Cmdr. Shayne: The Alternative Constant

[Quinn Friedl]

((Deck 3, Main Engineering, USS Arrow))

 

Shayne: This is our core- the technology is a more refined version of what your scientists have created on Venthis. At your rate of technological advancement, I’ve no doubt you’ll surpass us by this time next week. 

 

It was like watching a culture- literally and figuratively- developing with the help of fast-forward. In a month’s time, what would they accomplish with their combined intelligence and knowledge? What beautiful, or destructive, uses could they find for their hard-won warp engine? He’d worried about influencing their planet’s development, but at the rate they were rushing forward, Shayne doubted that there would be enough time for an act of undue interference to ripple into its consequences before said results were totally nullified. It was… frightening to behold. 

 

Serinus/R'Ariel: Response

 

Dran: I daresay. ::He exhaled.:: We do seem to be swamped with a lot of potential, but not enough knowledge. Which is why we welcome and celebrate our cooperation with the Federation. 

 

That was something Shayne had been expecting. The technological prowess of the Federation was well known, if not fully understood, by the outside civilizations. There was always something to be gained in partnering with the Federation, and though there were strict limitations on what technologies could be traded, the rumours of power or potential overran the narrative. 

 

Serinus/R'Ariel: Response

 

Shayne: Ambassador, the reports created by the Arkhipov were… insightful but not necessarily complete. In our experience, it takes many years, sometimes centuries, for armies and continents and people to put aside conflict and work together in common cause, and yet you’ve managed this feat in a matter of months. I find myself in awe of you, sir, and… interested in learning myself. 

 

He did not know Dran enough to trust him at this tentative point, but everything he’d seen of the ambassador told him that his counterpart was at least honorable, if not downright cooperative. 

 

Serinus/R'Ariel: Response

 

Dran: Our conflict was drawn out for centuries. No one knows how it started, or who started it, or the events leading up to it. I was born into a life of survival. We fought to keep ourselves alive, not necessarily to destroy the enemy. Over time, and as more of Venthis was ruined, actually winning the war didn't seem to be the priority. Our goal to survive, and fight another day. Does that make sense?

 

Shayne hesitated to respond, as he did not himself have experience with such a way of life. Not even the hellish months of confinement at Theta 122 had been sufficient to grasp what such a life would be like. 

 

Shayne: I... can try. 

 

Serinus/R'Ariel: Response

 

Earnestness here was important- if Dran felt like he was being mislead, or that his experiences were being taken for granted, they could kiss their hopes of a truly peaceful second contact goodbye. 

 

Dran: Disarmament was easy when we all admitted we didn't want to continue fighting. We recycled our weapons and ammo almost immediately. The hardest part was forgetting those prejudices and to try and learn to work with each other and not fight each other. 

 

Shayne: Now that does sound familiar. 

 

He’d seen other officers- better officers- oversee disarmament programs and the social tensions that inevitably followed an official cessation of hostilities. On a planet as rife and old as Venthis, Shayne could hardly believe they’d survived long enough to gain the attention of the Federation. 

 

Serinus/R'Ariel: Response

 

Dran: The Miracle? Oh, forgive me. It's a colloquial term we use for the moment the fighting stopped, and how we describe the energy that saved us. ::Beat.:: We were about to destroy ourselves in one of our biggest battles to date. All four states stood ready to annihilate one another... but then the skies cleared. Decades of pollution and weapon residue in the atmosphere cleared in an hour! The oceans followed. The Eastern fields next. We all witnessed it, unsure of who had done it. A Miracle is the only way to describe that day. 

 

Shayne’s eyes narrowed. That definitely sounded like something either beyond the capacity of the Venthis civilizations, or something they did not fully understand. It was unpleasant, but he’d need to press further. 

 

Shayne: And… this Miracle describes the moment? Or the action?

 

Serinus/R'Ariel: Response

 

To his credit, Dran did not seem to be growing impatient with the weary questions from the commander, R’Ariel and Serinus. 

 

Dran: The Miracle is our great power source. Everything from warp drives to replicators, or automatic doors to light switches is powered by it, and is regulated by it. All of the planet Venthis shares that power. ::He smiled.:: But I'm sure Madam Alios is explaining all this to your team on the surface. She created The Miracle, and Venthis owes her everything.

 

Shayne: You say “it”, as if it’s one centralized source of power. Not even the Federation can power a planet with a singular central energy plant. What could you be using to provide such energy? 

 

There were times throughout history in which men and women would look back to a singular moment, a simple question, or an otherwise innocuous event, and realize that it was where what had transpired after began. For Shayne, it would be that question, that point, reached by two lines of fact that pummeled forward toward one impossible, yet inimitable truth. 

 

As the question was leaving his lips, the vibrant screens of the engineering section snapped off for a brief instant. 

 

Shayne: What the…? 

 

An answer was forthcoming, and when it resolved, the commander actually grew green. 

 

He was not one to shirk away from words or symbols- they were indelibly linked to the human experience. He’d never been scared of an image before. And yet, what now shown on the screens across engineering- and ostensibly the whole ship- was something every captain hoped they’d never witness. It was the unspoken terror of the service, unmatched by even a fleet of Borg cubes or a supernova. 

 

Shayne could only feel his spine alight with a special, viscous sort of dread as he digested his dismay. 

 

For now, on every screen that ought to hold schematics and information and control interfaces, there was only a pearlescent, static omega. 

 

Serinus/R'Ariel: Response

 

Dran: Response

 

Tag/TBC...

 

Commander Randal Shayne
Commanding Officer

USS Arrow
NCC 69829
G239202RS0