Lieutenant Wyatt Ral - Empty Space! Or is it?
Jason Price
((Bridge, USS Thor))
Wyatt was once again on the bridge as the Chief was down on the planet. After spending time simulating sub space weapons countermeasures and getting to know the first officer over a meal he was happy to be there. They had broken orbit after dropping the away teams on VX-LON-3 in order to search the surrounding space for any clues as to the source of the disease.
Herrick: What do we know about this system thus far?
Meris: (tapping the panel) Commander, according to the navigational sensors, the Vexilon system contains twenty particles of space dust per cubic meter. We’ve detected fifty-two ultraviolet radiation spikes and a class two comet... if that’s the kind of thing you had in mind.
Josh turned to look directly at the assistant chief as Wyatt tapped away at his console. He didn’t need to see the commander was looking at him to know that. He turned to look at the FO after quickly reading his console.
Ral: Nothing immediately alarming on the engineering side, Commander. The ship’s environmental shields are stable against local radiation levels. Still… fifty-two UV spikes is unusually high for a system this size. Could be solar activity or something else emitting in that spectrum.
Herrick: Is any other location here capable of sustaining life? Class K is certainly pushing it for that to be the ideal “setting down” place.
Meris: Setting down, sir? We are tangle-adjacent here. The away teams have gone down to VX-LON-3 on the fringe of the tangle. There are three other planetoids within the system. VX-LON-1 and VX-LON-2 are both Class P and incapable of supporting life as we know it. They are both positioned outside the tangle. VX-LON-4 is Class E and capable of supporting carbon-based life but is fully within the tangle. Fun fact… VX-LON-4 has the highest surface temperature of any known planet within the tangle.
oO Did Meris just think he wants to land the Thor! Oo
Ral: The thermal profile on VX-LON-4 is extreme. If the Tangle’s interference extends there, it might explain the temperature anomaly. Could be natural — or the by-product of energy discharge. I can run a correlation check against known tangle radiation patterns.
Wyatt typed the commands to initiate the correlation within the main computer buried deep inside the Thor.
Meris: Shall I start our survey around any particular point of interest?
Wyatt sensed a change in Josh’s mind and spoke up to take the immediate pressure off his decision.
Ral: Maybe start near the densest cluster of UV spikes. If there’s a common source, natural or engineered, we’ll find it faster by mapping the overlapping emissions. I’ll sync engineering sensors to assist.
Herrick: Right. Meris, let’s start with doing a close pass of the radiation spikes. Let’s start with getting high-resolution sensor data on the UV spikes.
Herrick: Wyatt, I’d like to get several probes ready for our other phenomena. There’s no reason we can’t cast the net a bit wide on this one and see what bites… ::correcting himself:: see what data we can gather and collate.
Wyatt smiled at the commander’s fishing metaphor. But then again that is exactly what they were doing. They had no knowledge of what was out there in this system.
Ral: Understood, Commander. We’ll cast the net wide and hope we don’t reel in something that bites back.
Meris: Response
As the ship continued forward to its destination, the comet came onto the viewscreen on a perpendicular path. A brilliant blue tail trailing behind it. Wyatt scanned the comet and the tail flowing off it away from the system's sun.
Ral: The comet’s composition is unusual — high traces of thallium and iridium in the tail plasma. Could be interacting with the Tangle’s fringe, causing some of those UV spikes.
Meris: Response
They’d arrived at one of the sources of the UV spikes, though there was nothing to actually see at the location.
Herrick: Is there still radiation emanating from this location?
Ral: Confirmed, Commander. The emission remains steady, wavelength two hundred eighty nanometres, amplitude constant. No visual object, no subspace wake. It’s as if the radiation is anchored to a fixed point in space… but without a source to generate it.
Meris/Herrick: Response
Wyatt tapped several commands into his console and within seconds the computer had completed its diagnostic.
Ral: Negative, Commander. Sensor arrays are functioning within standard tolerance. The readings are real, consistent across multiple bands. Whatever’s out there is emitting a constant ultraviolet field… but it’s masking its presence perfectly in every other spectrum.
Meris/Herrick: Response
Ral: Cloaked? Possible, though the power signature doesn’t match a cloak. It’s too diffuse. More like… residual output from a containment field that’s degraded over time.
Meris/Herrick: Response
Ral: Understood. Initiating harmonic mapping. We may be able to reconstruct a lattice structure, if there’s a device generating the field, it’ll show up as interference nodes.
Meris/Herrick: Response
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Lieutenant Wyatt Ral
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Thor NCC-85852
C239903WR3