Lt. Cmdr Robin Hopper – Secret Passages, Secret Messages
Robin Hopper
((Talon Class Scout Daintree – Space, Near the Trenvonn Border))
Interrupting their discussion about the nature of the often-anomalous region of space and the politics of the Trenvonn, a smattering of small blips suddenly appeared on Robin’s readout as they entered scanning range. A small tone of alert sounded, drawing her eyes to the console for a moment. Fortunately, it didn’t appear to be anything dangerous – but potentially interesting.
Hopper: Something on sensors… ::Squinting at her readout:: Judging by the scattering pattern and the mineralogical analysis, they look like hull fragments. They’re too small to determine the type of ship they came from. Any signs of Underspace exposure?
She looked over her shoulder, curious to see how her Science Officer and Medical Officer would recommend proceeding based on their findings. The latter looked down at their console and answered first – though their answer was not particularly illuminating.
Shortrith: Honestly, I can't see anything. I may be looking for the wrong thing, but I hope I'm not.
Robin tilted her head slightly to the side. The native gasses of the Barossa protostar nebula and the unstable subspace geometry of the region caused by interactions between warp travel and the fragments of native dynamite often made scanning more challenging than in other regions of space – it was very possible that Shortrith, a visitor to the area (and, admittedly, a medical officer rather than an astrophysicist), was doing everything right – just, by the book.
Galanis: You’re looking in the right place. The nebula is just causing a lot of interference. ::looking over at Robin:: The signatures are a close match. It’s a very high probability these fragments either travelled through Underspace or were in extremely close proximity to something entering or leaving it.
A small clicking sound of satisfied expectation popped out of Hopper’s mouth as she nodded. Theory confirmed. oO Alright then, so – how’d you get here? And why are you in a bunch of pieces? Oo
Shortrith: Hold on- something new just popped up on my screen.
Galanis: What are you seeing, Lieutenant?
Hopper: ::Brows rising in anticipation:: More ship debris, or something else?
She supposed she ought to look at her own readouts, see if she could find the same thing Shortrith was seeing – instead, she gave a quick upwards nod towards their HCO, Flint, then shot a look towards the viewscreen.
Hopper: See if you can locate the readings from Lieutenant Shortrith’s console and bring up on the viewscreen.
Flint: Aye, ma’am – just a tick… Ah. There we go.
The screen in front of them showed the edge of the Barossa nebula, its melange of purple-hued gasses swirling at a snail’s pace as they curled outward and dissipated into the empty space beyond. Through the hazy mix of gasses, bright stars could be seen. However, as the shuttle reoriented to direct its external visual scanners towards the region Renaie had identified, there was… something else.
Shortrith: It seems darker than other areas of space… Is anyone else seeing this?
Galanis: You’re right - that’s the direction of the origin of the debris. The spatial distortion grows stronger the closer you get. Could that be a remnant of Underspace travel, Commander Hopper?
Hopper: That certainly seems like a reasonable enough hypothesis to me, Niev. ::To Flint:: Can you bring us a little closer? We need to get clear readings through the nebula’s interference – and if that’s a portion of an unstable corridor it could collapse any second.
Flint: Brilliant. Unstable spatial anomalies. My favourite… Adjusting heading and speed to half-impulse.
Despite his wry protestations, the HCO’s fingers darted across his terminal, adjusting the angle of the shuttle again and moving it forward towards the ‘dark splotch’ ahead of them at the aforementioned speed. A small amused huff of air escaped Hopper’s nose. This was not the first time the two of them had encountered something similar in a shuttle – and the first time she had wound up with a nasty head wound.
Hopper: Just try to keep a safe distance, Lieutenant. We can make do with long range sensors for now. ::Turning towards the others:: Keep an eye on it, as soon as we can get useful readings and figure out what this thing is we’ll stop. ::Back towards the viewscreen:: Hopefully before we run straight into it.
Shortrith: Hmm… I guess we'll see soon enough.
Flint grunted. Robin chuckled, darkly.
Hopper: That’s the spirit.
The dark splotch continued to grow larger on the viewscreen – though it remained a substantial distance away, yet (the miracle of high-resolution lenses and telescopic zoom!)
Galanis: Sirs, the Miombo appears to be moving in to intercept the debris. They’re likely looking to find out more with a detailed material analysis. I recommend we continue ahead with investigating the origin point to spread our attention efficiently, sir.
Shortrith: If we spread out, we'll be able to get a wider perspective, right?
Hopper: Two heads are often better than one, but only one set of eyes can look through a microscope at a time. I’m sure Commander Taelon is thinking roughly the same thing. Let’s just focus on.. ::pointing towards the dark splotch on the screen:: ..that thing.
A few more quiet moments passed, and the splotch grew to engulf about half of the total viewscreen scope. At this point, a proximity alert began to sound on Flint’s terminal. He silenced it and then, quickly, adjusted the velocity of the shuttle.
Flint: Reducing speed to all-stop, Commander. There are a number of gravitational forces acting on the shuttle, pulling us towards the, erm, hole. At this range our maneuvering thrusters should be sufficient to keep us out of it, but if we get closer the risk will continue to increase.
Hopper nodded, content with that. She turned to the other officers in blue.
Hopper: Safe to assume we’re close enough now to start getting some informative results?
Galanis: These readings are… unsettling. Lieutenant Shortrith, exactly how dangerous can exposure to Underspace be?
Robin chewed her lip, silently, absorbing some of the ambient nerves radiating from Niev.
Shortrith: I can't find anything to state the danger, but I'd be alert anyway- especially if this is unknown to the Federation or its allies.
Hopper: ::To Shortrith:: Starfleet’s experience with underspace is limited, but the last time we got a good look into one of those corridors, USS Voyager recorded a lot of junk and debris, and unstable interactions with their warp field… It’s been almost forty years since that data was recorded. I think it’s reasonable to say whatever risks there were in travelling underspace then may well have increased during that time.
She sighed. It was oddly tempting, all the same. The chance to fly straight in and take a look around. Though, of course, for all she knew, attempting to do so in the little tin can they were currently in might result in all of their immediate and implosive deaths. So, despite her curiosity, she resisted ordering Flint to ‘take them in’.
Galanis: That darker region of space Lieutenant Shortrith pointed out - the strongest point of that crease-like spatial anomaly - is likely where the objects exited Underspace. With enough data, it could be possible to start building a recognizable profile for Underspace tunnel activity. Commander Hopper, are vessels known to have unique emissions when travelling through subspace, like warp signatures?
Amity’s First Officer screwed up her face, in thought. Even with her background in advanced physics, her knowledge of the workings of underspace corridor technology felt extraordinarily limited. The fact was, most of the data they had on its workings were theoretical and based on extremely fractional sources – only a handful of Federation vessels had even encountered the phenomena, and most of them had been almost immediately attacked by some sort of enemy vessel emerging from underspace. Hardly ideal circumstances to make detailed scientific examinations.
Hopper: Unfortunately, Lieutenant, I’m not sure. From what we know, it may be possible to engage in stable warp travel within an underspace corridor, if you know the proper techniques. We also know that doing so comes with risks… Depending on how a vessel navigates the corridor it’s likely to leave behind traces of its propulsion systems if nothing else – but, then, of course, those traces would be layered within the underspace corridor itself. It’d be like trying to figure out what sort of cheese was inside a burrito that had already been wrapped up and cooked.
Colorful metaphors were the bread and butter of Starfleet Science – a habit Hopper had not lost with the change in uniform colour.
Shortrith: I see what you mean, but could the structural stability of the Underspace current be compromised with closer proximity?
Galanis: I’m not sure it’s the stability of the Underspace currents we’ll need to be worried about…
Hopper: You’re both right. Underspace corridors are notoriously unstable if mishandled. We know, in past encounters, the Vaadwaur have used stabilizing devices to maintain open entrances to their corridors – and that it’s possible to collapse them relatively easily. Consider the region of space we’re in, these may be particularly unstable corridors we’re talking about – and depending on the manner of collapse, we could be looking at some sort of ripple or cascading effect emanating from the collapse.
Basically, they were playing with what amounted to a lit firecracker with no idea how long the fuse was or how bad the subsequent bang would be… if it even went off at all. See? There’s another colourful metaphor for you. Helpful, no?
Shortrith: Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the point at which the objects exited the underspace be the most volatile?
Galanis: Possibly. It depends on a lot of environmental variables. There’s a possibility the initial exit point could be calming by now - like the wake of a ship versus the disturbance from entering the water, for example. But that only spreads the potential for danger around.
Robin nodded, something itching at the back of her brain while Shortrith and Galanis talked. Something to do with volatility… She snapped her fingers.
Hopper: Ah! Right. We also know that the entrances to active underspace corridors, since they are essentially controlled rifts between subspace and normal space, emit tetryon radiation. Due to the processes implemented by the Vaadwaur to activate them, these emissions are slowed to… ::trying to remember the exact numbers and failing:: …well they’re slower than usual. This could make them a little less lethal than usual, but it also makes them harder to detect.
Shortrith: I see… ::allowing themself a small chuckle:: That's one risk to add to the list.
Galanis: I find it easier to think of it more as a catalog than a list.
Before Robin could respond with a quip of her own, the Daintree’s comms platform pinged at her. Seeing that the incoming hail was from their sister Talon Scout, Flint’s deft fingers activated the internal comms system.
Taelon: =/\= Miombo to Daintree. We’ve retrieved wreckage we believe originated from the breach. Ensign Saavei and Doctor Orrey confirm it’s of, um, Vaadwuar origin. As are the - ::He paused, considering his words.:: As are the physical remains found amid the debris. They’ve also found some indication of on-board disruptor fire. =/\=
Hopper: =/\= Disruptor fire? ::Pause, thinking:: Well, we’re really racking up a list – or, um, a catalogue of risks over here. We’ve found a spatial rift that may be a semi-collapsed entrance to an underspace corridor near our present location. That’d be consistent with your findings, Miombo. =/\=
Taelon: =/\= Aye, we’ll join you at the disturbance shortly. Be careful. Miombo out. =/\=
Robin pursed her lips. Commander Taelon, while he had plenty of prior experience, was also new to Amity – and the region. More importantly, Robin hadn’t actually worked with their Acting Chief Science Officer yet. She hoped he was as competent as he seemed, given they were now potentially playing with fire.
Galanis: Are these Talon scouts rated for operation around an Underspace corridor like this? …Are there even operational standards for that context?
Flint: ::Grumbling:: No, there aren’t.
Hopper: There are never operational standards until we understand a phenomena sufficiently to create those standards. Pros and cons, Lieutenants, as usual. On the one hand, we have significantly less hull plating, weaker shields, and less powerful engines than a larger starship has – on the other hand, we also have less mass to move around and significantly smaller warp bubble geometry, which means we’re less likely to bump into something we don’t want to.
She still wasn’t about to order the Daintree to fly straight into the anomaly, mind you. But as they were discovering, hanging out right on its outer edge was of dubious safety as well.
Hopper: Lieutenants, adjust your long-range scans to look for tetryon radiation in lower frequency bandwidths. They’ll be sublight, if they’re there at all – though that still leaves a wide range to cross-reference. I want to know if our shielding and hull plating can sufficiently mitigate the risks given their reduced velocity.
After all, there had to be some reason the Vaadwaur went to the effort of actively slowing the tetryon radiation emitted at the entrances to their underspace corridors. Maybe it was just a matter of reducing the risk to passing ships?
Over the next minute or two, science happened – by which I mean, the three officers who weren’t monitoring their position relative to the spatial disturbance directly ahead of them, all took some time to examine the phenomena more thoroughly and with renewed focus based on the conversations they’d just had about the properties of underspace (limited as those conversations may have been).
Robin, for her part, was doing her best to determine if there was any way of deducing how straight the corridor beyond the entrance was, if it was there at all and hadn’t simply collapsed on itself. Her calculations were, much to her chagrin, coming back as a bit of a jumble thanks to the inconsistency of the data she was able to collect. oO This is the problem with subspace. It doesn’t interact nicely with normal space and things get all stupid and messy. Oo
Looking up from her own mess, she inquired with the others.
Hopper: Okay, the Miombo should be here any minute now – what’s the dealio? Have we found conclusive evidence that this is an underspace corridor after all? What’s our risk factor staying in the vicinity and, uhh, ‘poking at it’ – for lack of a better term.
In this instance, that likely meant sending in more probes.
Shortrith: Response
Galanis: I recommend we bring on our short range sensors to full power as well, Commander. If they’ve detected indications of a battle, something else may be out here. The aggressors. Survivors. Lieutenant Shortrith - looking at this data, some of it exhibits similarity to tetryonic radiation. Do you think treating exposure similarly might work?
Hopper: Given the circumstances, I’m inclined to think ‘similarity to tetryonic radiation’ is close enough to figure that’s our ‘slowed down tetryons’ alright… It’s a form of subatomic particle radiation. At these speeds, what sort of concentrations could we withstand?
She knew the question dipped into starship engineering, but she also believed any medical officer worth their salt would be able to work out the danger posed by radiation through standard starfleet shields and hull plating.
Shortrith: Response
As if in response to this line of questioning, the Daintree shuddered slightly – not violently, but enough for everyone on board to feel the bumps. Hopper’s gaze shot speedily from the other scientists to Flint, who was scowling at his helm controls as he made frantic adjustments.
Galanis: Sir… if the disturbances continue to grow more unstable as we approach, it’s going to be very difficult to reach the Miombo - or vice versa - in the event one of the ships encounters trouble. I am a scientist, not an engineer, but becoming stranded in an area of space like this quickly runs into the field physics over design.
Hopper: Flint – any signs that our warp field is affecting the stability of the subspace rift?
Flint: Anything’s possible, ma’am, but we’re operating at impulse only. Our warp field is practically nil.
Hopper: Practically nil is not the same as nil when we get into the realm of subatomic particle physics and interspatial field dynamics, Mr. Flint. Move us a little further off – preferably in the direction of the Miombo. We’ll rendezvous with them at a more stable distance.
The helm officer was already making the necessary adjustments, essentially backing them up. The splotch on the screen shrunk, almost imperceptibly.
Flint: Moving us away from the rift…
Galanis/Shortrith: Response
Hopper: Given what we can tell from our initial scans, what options do we have? Would a probe be able to breach the rift without collapsing or, worse, exploding it? Could it survive inside the corridor and transmit data back to us?
She really didn’t want to go poking the Daintree’s nose into it – all the other risks aside, there was also now the new risk of some sort of attacker lurking within the underspace corridor waiting to strike.
Galanis/Shortrith: Response
Flint: Hang on a tick. Ma’am – you should see this. ::Indicating his panel:: We’re receiving an encrypted message. Text only. It’s from the Miombo. Sending to your console now.
((OOC – I am making the, I think, reasonable assumption that someone on the Miombo’s crew will do as Orrey directed in his last sim and send the Daintree a ‘silent message’ about the situation with the Turei.))
Robin’s eyebrows threatened to fly off her face, but she quickly subdued them in order to furrow her brow in concentration as she read the message on her screen.
Hopper: I guess we aren’t alone out here… Only it’s not the Trenvonn that have intercepted the Miombo, it’s the Turei – the, um, underspace ‘squatters’ as the Vaadwaur describe them. More or less. We know they use the underspace corridors, but aren’t as adept at maintaining them… That’s about all we know, actually. ::To the others:: Flint, hold position here. Niev, is there any indication we’ve been spotted or scanned? Shortrith – ::pause:: what are the odds of performing a successful emergency transport through the radiation and interference we’re experiencing?
She was hoping that wouldn’t be necessary. She was also hoping weapons wouldn’t be necessary, but the thought had occurred to her that she was likely the most qualified to play the role of ‘tactical officer’ in this scenario, if things should come to that. oO Where’s Kaito when you need him? Oo The Turei showing up was unexpected but, coupled with the evidence of disruptor fire the Miombo had evidently discovered, nothing was officially off the table yet.
Galanis/Shortrith: Response
TBC
