Posted by Lieutenant Steven Leon Marsh (Chief Science Officer) in Main Sim: Europa Arrives

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Avik (XO) in Main Sim: Europa Arrives

Posted by Gamemaster Creeping Dread (Gamemaster) in Main Sim: Europa Arrives
Posted by… suppressed (15) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIP

“I think one of the ways to determine if they have warp capabilities is to observe that ship. If we can also scan it without alerting the natives, it might have evidence on it.” It was a light suggestion from the top of her head, but a sound one in her eyes. She hoped the Captain would see that or someone would come up with better suggestions.

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr

“Exactly my thought, Ms. Avik,” the Captain said. “Let’s do that instead. Passive sensors, please,” he ordered everyone on the Bridge. “Helm, hold this position for now.”

“Put the ship pulling away on screen, and magnify.”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

The viewscreen magnified the ship in question. In comparison to Cochrane’s ship that led to Earth’s first contact with the Vulcans this ship was two to three times larger and not as streamlined cylindrical. What could be considered warp nacelles, without seeing them in action, were placed in front of the ship in a way that might hint at pulling it into warp instead of propelling it. Passive sensors detected deuterium and helium being used in a fusion reaction to fuel the ship’s systems. The traditional propulsion system seemed to be chemical reaction based with liquid oxygen being burned to provide thrust. The science ensign relayed these details to the Captain.

“That’s a little odd that they have a fusion plant, but chemical propulsion,” the Captain thought aloud. “You’d expect a society with fusion power technology would be able to also use it for more efficient propulsion, at least in terms of specific impulse.” Though, this planet had unusually heavy gravity, so perhaps the tradeoff for them still favored the higher thrust provided by chemical rockets.

The ship’s chemical propulsion turned off as it coasted further away from the station. It was aligned on an outbound course from the suns and seemed to be building energy as the fusion reactor output increased. With a flash of light it entered warp, which the Europa’s sensors tracked, before it quickly dropped out of warp 20 AU away. Seemed like they had warp tech, but the next questions is did they develop it themselves?

GM Dread

Mattie scanned the warp trail and began analyzing it for comparison to the various warp signatures that were in the computer. She worked quietly as she also watched the ships at the station.

CE

OOC: What are you looking for exactly?

OOC: If she can tell the types of ships and seeing the types of ships that are coming and going from this area.

CE

The only ships in-system besides the Europa are the three that were discovered initially around the orbiting space station. The types couldn’t be determined as they weren’t standard to the Federation or any of its members. There were no other ships on sensors.

Avik digested the information given by the science officer. In a few ways, it shared the same characteristics of Earth’s early space years design. However, there were clear differences. She suspected these changes were influenced by the planet’s environment and other features. She made a note to contact Officer Zorell shortly for details.

When someone broke the prime directive, the similarities were uncanny and betrayed the source. There now was evidence that could support this civilization developing far more rapidly than expected.

“The only question left is to determine if they developed it themselves or obtained it from another source,” Avik stated out loud then turned to the CO.

“Now, we can follow your idea of contacting them and start an investigation.”

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr

“Let’s make sure we know what we’re getting into before we actually contact someone,” the Captain said. “I mean… we don’t have enough information yet to determine that they did or didn’t make it themselves. I would expect that if they didn’t make it themselves, then they’d have skipped past a design like this that uses fusion power entirely in favor of some kind of anti-matter based system, which is vastly more common for warp drives given the high power requirements.”

“Can we get a sense of that ship’s capabilities? I can’t imagine they can sustain warp speed for that long if they’re using a fusion plant? I mean, that’d be like trying to run our warp engines with our impulse reactor.”

“Also, are there any communications between that ship and anyone else in the system that we could potentially listen in on?” He wanted to have someone trying to listen in to media broadcasts on the planet, also, which was what he was about to order before the ship stole everyone’s attention.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

OOC: Fix the thread split by adding in and replying to the CE above.

“I’ve seen small ships cruse at warp six on a fusion drive. I wouldn’t fly in one of them… but I know better.”

“Well, leading up to their small jump to warp there was a build up of power that has been seemingly consumed. It might hint to a large capacitance reservoir, but they definitely don’t seem to have the ability for any longer distance travelling capabilities. The 20 AU they traversed might be the upper limit, but it’s hard to say for sure without knowing energy transfer rate efficiency or how much power their warp drive consumes.” The ever knowledgeable NE replied. “I’m only picking up transmissions from the planet to the warp craft but can’t detect the warp craft transmitting anything, though that may be due to a directional transmission.”

GM Dread

The Captain just looked at the NE as if he were expecting something more than this for a minute.

“Are you able to get the content of the transmissions or not?” he asked somewhat impatiently.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

“Well…” Began the NE in hesitation. “It just looks like telemetry data and guidance instructions from the planet. There are some background signals from their communication network radiating into space though. A lot of it seems to be weather forecasts with radiation spot predictions for several regions on the planet. What seems to be a consistent transmission across the planet seems to be maybe some sort of propaganda? The computer hasn’t been able to translate the language yet.”

GM Dread

Zorell opened a channel. =/\=Astrometrics to Bridge.=/\=

=/\=I’ve been investigating the planet’s technology in relation to its climate and possible societal evolution and I’ve picked up some unmanned suborbital craft. They each contain a powerful receiver that seems to be the focus for some of the large amounts of energy the capital city is generating. It is noteworthy also that a significant portion of resources from other outlying centres are redirected to this capital as well. As of yet I’ve been unable to determine a purpose for these craft, but I thought I would mention it as it seemed… unusual.=/\= Of course there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation, but Vora was mid-investigation so far.

Lt. (j.g.) Zorell, Sciences (cross-posted from Astrometrics)

“It could be a power relay system. Small ship gets it power from a larger base.. ie. a planet. When away from the planet they have to charge up to go to warp.”

Marsh

Avik stood still in place. Her ears caught every bit of conversation. After both Zorell and Marsh spoke, adding in more information, Avik decided to voice her thoughts.

“I do not think observing will yield all the answers we want. The prime directive applies to pre-warp civilizations, and we just witnessed a successful warp. With that evidence, they are no longer a pre-warp civilization.” She let the facts sink in before she continued, hoping it might ease any worry about breaking protocol.

“I believe our next objective is to discover how they obtained the warp knowledge and if it was from someone within the Federation.” She remained calm while she made her points.

Pausing only to take a breath, she then shared the things in her head.

“I can theorize many ways they could have achieved warp technology. A gift from a warp-capable race not apart of the Federation. Studying artifacts on the planet lost by a more advanced culture. A rare probability of hitting certain stages earlier than others. Which the information from Astrometics does not support the last one. Until any facts are confirmed by the individuals using it, we can continue to theorize and still have no solid answers.”

Her eyes looked to the CO and waited for his response.

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr

Marsh made a slight face, that wasn’t exactly what he thought was the correct interpretation of the ‘warp’ capable civilization clause of the Prime Directive. He believed that the that referred to races that discovered warp on their own, not given a warp drive. Several humans from Earth had been whisked away by warp drive capable races. In many cases the human captured the ship in the far reaches of the universe… that didn’t make them warp capable and eligible for first contact..

Marsh

An NE rebutted, “But Earth’s first contact was after the Vulcans detected warp signatures in the Sol system. With the time between Cochrane’s successful flight and first contact, there wasn’t time to determine if the warp technology was given or developed. I don’t mean to split hairs, but they have warp technology. Why not ask them how they got it?”

GM Dread

“Because of the main rationale of the prime directive, they might not even be ready for the question, much less contact with another race.” Marsh looked at the ensign, “And having power doesn’t mean they know how to properly and ethically use it, that goes equally to the conventions of telepathy, my internal thoughts are my own ensign.” He looked at the junior officer with annoyance. Bad enough the telepaths look and keep the little secrets to themselves to spill it all over the bridge was too much to let go unchecked.

OOC: :p

The ensign looked suitably chastised, though they wondered why the CSO was so aggressive on that point. The whole point of first contact was to help direct those who might misuse warp tech in the first place. And the ensign didn’t look for people’s thoughts or keep little secrets, but strong thoughts had a way of slipping in past their guard and Marsh felt strongly about this it seemed.

OOC: Just noticed those were internal thought by Marsh. Just imagine the NE was a telepath.

“It doesn’t really matter, the decision isn’t mine, and there is plenty of room for debate on either side…” Marsh turned to the captain.

Avik waited, her eye pinned on the CO. At this point, she wanted something beyond simple observation. Nothing new could be learned, and she hoped he would see that. Else, using a human saying, they would be chasing their tails. Not completing the mission.

Despite this result, this wasn’t her ship. She would back down when the CO made his decision and accept it despite how it felt to her. He was her superior after all.

Her eyes slipped to the NE but said nothing to his comment. She figured Marsh or someone might while they waited for the CO to make a decision.

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr

Marsh CSO

At this point a massive power surge emanated from the planet setting off the Europa’s alarms. A beam of energy shot away from the planet towards the warp capable craft, though at the speed of light it’d take 20 minutes or so to arrive. The warp craft had aligned back to the planet and was in the process of charging up for a return warp jump when a directed beam of energy from the planet struck it. Could the planet be transferring energy to assist in the capacitance charge?

GM Dread