Posted by Lieutenant Commander Maxwell Watley (First Officer) in Sim Start

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Peter Sigmundsson (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Sim Start

Posted by Gamemaster Deus Ex Machina (GM) in Sim Start
Posted by… suppressed (12) by the Post Ghost! 👻

<SNIP>

Markus watched the sensor feeds as well, noting the systems powering up. Then more transmission. The beep/pulse transmission was about as low power as one could get and communicate at least a little. But as systems began coming online, a carrier wave started up with a data stream, image and video, phonics and so on. It came faster and faster. “Captain, it looks like we’re getting a language upload. The computer systems are chewing through what they’re sending now. The universal translator should have full communication… about now.” For most Terran languages, a library of around 1600 words was needed to establish conversational to fluency range. People had the misunderstanding that fluency was achieved when someone knew pretty much an entire language. But in truth, fluency came when someone could think in a given language without needing to translate back and forth. That only took about seventy-five to eighty percent, and some practice. But the computer systems were getting a big dump, and more than enough for the translator to work with.

The information dump could have come as a cyber attack, planting a virus or program in the system. But there were a lot of safeguards. In Markus’ mind this was more of an attempt to communicate. A Golden Disk being sent ahead, to pave the way for more direct communication. Wanting to talk first was at least a somewhat positive indicator.

“I’ll see if we can get this mess into something coherent,” he asked. Communications wasn’t really his specialty. But he had basic skills picked up over the years. He glanced over to the other bridge officers, wondering if there were any linguists aboard. At the same time, he started setting up a queue and filters, the former to set things up in a first-in-first-out format to see if there was any kind of playback or order to what they were being sent.

Lt Woods, CSO

Peter looked at the information coming through, to his mind it read like a wartime intelligence report, giving an overflow of information so that it couldn’t be read by those it wasn’t intended for. His own linguistic skills were limited to half a dozen federation languages and a handful of non-federation languages he’d picked in his years as a private citizen, good things to have in the intelligence field but not so good for this situation.

CIO

The flow of pictures and text stopped after a dozen seconds after a pause of perhaps another second came a written response. =^=Greetings… Welcome Aboard.=^= The message repeated. The ships impulse engines fired up and the ship was going 1/3rd light speed… which was inconsequential given the distance, but was a clear sign of heightened interest in making contact.

Scanners were able to detect weapon hard points for beam weapons, likely phased laser beams, tubes for missiles or torpedoes, and other energy projection systems perhaps tractor beams. There were no shields detected as of yet, but a magnetic field had just activated - again likely to deflect micro meteors since the ship had accelerated significantly.

GM

“Captain, detect laser beam weaponry…” That wouldn’t even be able to scratch the paint Thought Maeve. “The ship also has what appears torpedo tubes. They also appear to have passive defensives but no shield emmeters besides a basic magnetic field. Captain… It’s almost as if it came from earth’s late 21st century.”

OOCL Phased lasers, but yet they are significantly underpowered in comparison to phasers and disruptors.

Maeve continued to monitor all her sensors to determine if there were any potential threats, ready to hit the Red Alert if it the command was given.

Lt.Cmdr Maeve Harlow - COS

“Continue scans, keep shields down but at the ready. We don’t want to appear threatening.” Michelle said in response to the CoS.

Michelle looked over at her CIO. “Anything you recognize?” Often times Intelligence officers had information that other crew did not. Her own background in Intelligence was often an asset. She did not recognize this specific design of craft, but that did not mean there weren’t files and records that other intel officers may have read.

-Captain Michelle Allen

Peter brought up a 3d model of the ship on a secondary console and examined it. He also patched into his intelligence files to cross-reference the designs “Nothing that rings a bell, it’s a big ship, you don’t often see a vessel of that size floating around”

CIO

The design was unknown in the Federation records. Further scans suggested noted some of the micro-meteor burns might be as old as 800 years old.

Kalika watched it all in wonder. The Prime Number sequence was recognized as base ‘first contact’ protocols. She was glad others picked it up as well. But then the logic dump and subsequent transmission made her curious. “Welcome aboard.... I wonder if it’s an invitation, or an acknowledgment we are connected to their computers? She glanced at the Security Chief and frowned. “I saw we got no life signs. But if they can create a magnetic deflection system, do you think it’s possible the life signs are masked? Can we get any other information from our scans like if it’s at least got gaps and holes in the structure for living spaces or is it perhaps a solid mechanical mass meaning no actual life on board?” It was a long shot, but if they could get hints, maybe it would help whatever team was sent over. Because she had a feeling, sooner or later, someone was going over there.

Kalika
Security

“unknown Lieutenant, currently I don’t believe it’s necessary for more aggressive scans. We don’t want to appear hostile.”

Watley was relieved when the Captain concurred with his assessment. The validation, as simple as it was, gave him confidence. “Welcome aboard?” he asked out loud to nobody in particular. “What does that mean?”

Lt. Cmdr. Maxwell Watley- XO

Maeve called to the captain and first officer. “Captain, given how ancient this ship appears to be, and the fact that it almost appears sentient I suggest following first contact rules of engagement.”

Lt.Cmdr, Maeve Harlow - COS

“Agreed. Let’s see if we can get them to respond to any type of communication.” Michelle said, shifting in her seat trying to not appear too anxious.

Mark continued running scans and taking readings. He was still waiting on a return for what kind of mass to density ratio the object had - How heavy/dense was it in relation to it’s size? How many meters was it on each axis? It’s general shape and structure? The vessel seemed to be of a lower technology. It reminded him of the conflict with the Elysian Alliance in the 2380’s.

The craft was standard in density. The ship was mostly hollow as manned starships tend to be. Although even long range unmanned ships had a high ratio of unused space.

((What exactly is this vessel’s dimension and shape? They should be able to get a cross section of it’s interior layout unless it’s being shielded. If it is being shielded then that tells them something else.))

Lt Woods, CSO

The magnetic deflectors could project enough power to block scanning, but they weren’t at that level yet.

The ship was 926 meters long and 510 meters wide and 422 meters deep. Cosmetically, it looked more like a rectangle block than anything else. The internal configuration was designed for creatures who might be somewhere between 1.4 to 2.5 meters in height. The map suggested living quarters, several dozen rooms that could have been science, engineering, or meeting rooms. A large engineer compartment mid ships. Warp systems on either flank of the ship, but against the hull contrary to models of this quadrant. There were radiation plating between the drives and the ‘ship’.

The “welcome aboard” message repeated.

GM

Peter turned from his console and looked back at the Captain “Ship doesn’t match anything in my records but it’s older than anything I’ve ever seen, over eight hundred years.” He said with interest in his voice, whatever that ship was he was curious to see what the insides looked like.

CIO

“Any evidence of temporal activity in the area?” Michelle asked the crew. All she needed on her first mission was to deal with time travel.

-Captain Michelle Allen

While continuing to watch her monitors, Maeve turned her head to look toward the science officer. That’s an interesting thought. A temporal eddy could definitely have brought the ship to this location. Maeve mused to herself.

Lt.Cmdr Maeve Harlow - COS

There was no evidence of Chonitons or like particles that would indicates a time displacement.

GM

Peter turned to the Captain “Should we send an away team over to the vessel?” He asked “It’s a great scientific find and I bet there is a lot we can learn over there”

CIO

Watley shook his head to himself. Obviously it was the Captain’s decision whether or not to send an away team but the XO was not comfortable with that proposal. “I think we should try to better understand how or why it is here first before sending people over there.” He cautioned.

Lt. Cmdr. Maxwell Watley- XO

The ship’s sensor range did not seem to reach far enough to detect the Viking on its own, but the craft seemed to use the communications and sensor beams to project the location of the Viking and accelerated to an awe inspiring warp 2.

GM