Literary Challenge 55
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Solaris turned to
Starboard, and toward the enemy's ventral side while increasing speed. Bright
beams of orange light laced from Spiral Wave beam banks and struck the Voth cruiser's port
shielding, itself bright blue flashes of light as the shielding absorbed the
attacks. The Federation vessel crossed the ecliptic and more orange beams
quickly filled the space between the ships. The Voth shielding was strained,
then failed, as beams chewed into the armored underbelly near the engines.
The Bastionclass ship was wounded as internal explosions bubbled the
exterior plating. Solaris banked to port and deuterium vented from the
impulse engines, accelerating the ship away.
The Voth cruiser stalled and started to fall from the sky. Seven kilometers away, Solaris coughed a quantum torpedo from its aft launcher. It impacted against the nose of the enemy cruiser, further disfiguring the sleek hull. Explosions continued detonating and ripping the ship to pieces. At its current altitude, debris will take ten minutes to fall to the surface, all the while trailing smoke, metal and death.
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"Well done. Return to Yellow Alert. Helm, plot a course back toward the Allied Zone." Captain Kathryn Beringer smirked as she stood from the command chair. She pulled at her jacket as she watched the aft video of the Voth cruiser disappear from view, then turned to the Engineering station. Chief Engineer Thel Ythysi sat looking at his console. Images of the Excelsior-class ship had red dots scattered in various locations, some turned blue then green as Kathryn walked up behind him. "How's he doing Chief?"
Thel didn't pause. "The ship sustained minor damage overall. The Voth anti-proton weaponry is not impressive and their ships, although quick, are like flying aluminum cans."
Kathryn smiled. "After that fight, I agree." She patted Thel's shoulder then stepped to the Science station where Omazei sat looking over her console. Trill marks were visible from her neck due to short brown hair before disappearing under the color of the uniform jacket. She looked up when Kathryn approached.
"Omazei, may I see you in the Astrometrics lab in fifteen minutes?"
"Of course, sir."
With that, Kathryn nodded and looked toward her First Officer, "Anthi, you have the conn." She entered the turbolift to make sure she was at the lab before Omazei arrived.
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The doors to the lab swished open and the Science Chief entered the darkened room. A translucent image of the Solonae Dyson Sphere rotated from the center console and it's light illuminated the room, casting dark shadows in every direction. Kathryn was hunched over looking at a screen from the center console then looked through the image at Omazei as she walked toward her Captain.
"Thank you for being prompt. I'm looking at our mission parameters and I'm going to make a recommendation to change them. I wanted your feedback before I send the request."
Omazei nodded then looked at the screen Kathryn was standing over. The ship's current position was dotted on a detailed map with a blue triangle. Various other ships were represented as either green or red triangles for the Romulan and Klingon factions at the Sphere. Whenever Voth ships were reported by real-time feed, then a purple triangle would appear. The Solaris was in the relatively quiet Allied Zone, having just recently exited the orange tinged Contested Zone.
Kathryn looked toward the floating image of the Sphere above them. "What can you tell me of the progress for the Sphere's exploration?"
"It's proving to be a challenge due to the Voth's technical supremacy, thus the efforts of Joint Command have been to maintain control of the Allied Zone." Omazei tapped onto controls at a nearby console and brought up various data. "Yes. Twenty ships have been dispatched to conduct further exploration of the Sphere beyond the Allied and Contested Zones to date. As you know, this is a massive structure that will take many years to fully explore properly. All scientific research is delayed due to the conflict."
"Have they been successful?"
"Relatively. Progress is slow because of the scale. It's easy to chart a star system using long-range sensors and probes. But the Sphere is something completely different: there's the external and internal surface of the shell, with the atmosphere above and space between it and the star it encompasses. There is still argument if the Sphere will require using a new system to measure coordinates! Then there are the Omega Particles -"
Kathryn raised a hand to interrupt, "I see. If we used standard planetary coordinates, could you show me where Dyson Joint Command would be?"
"Yes, sir, but we have to make some assumptions, the first being that the Sphere has poles relative to the galaxial-plane. Given that- ", Omazei entered more commands and the image of the Sphere added a cylindrical line making an axis showing theoretical north and south poles. Then very small areas became highlighted toward the zenith pole. It expanded as Omazei zoomed-in, forcing the Sphere's borders to disappear. "- DJC is approximately at 36 degrees 10 minutes 30 seconds North, 115 degrees 8 minutes 11 seconds West in the northern hemisphere. Give or take several seconds, if not minutes because of the scale."
"Interesting. By chance, have any vessels been catalogued as missing?"
"Yes." More commands were input and more data scrolled on a screen. "The Misericorde, and Kerg'kak. Both deep space science vessels. The Misericorde was sent toward the western border of the Allied Zone and expected to have a 50 degree parabolic arc, whereas the Kerg'kak went north with a 30 degree arc."
Kathryn nodded. "Thank you, Omazei. This will help with my recommendation."
"If I may, sir. What is your recommendation to Command?"
Kathryn's eyes almost sparkled. "To go looking for the Misericorde.
The Voth cruiser stalled and started to fall from the sky. Seven kilometers away, Solaris coughed a quantum torpedo from its aft launcher. It impacted against the nose of the enemy cruiser, further disfiguring the sleek hull. Explosions continued detonating and ripping the ship to pieces. At its current altitude, debris will take ten minutes to fall to the surface, all the while trailing smoke, metal and death.
---
"Well done. Return to Yellow Alert. Helm, plot a course back toward the Allied Zone." Captain Kathryn Beringer smirked as she stood from the command chair. She pulled at her jacket as she watched the aft video of the Voth cruiser disappear from view, then turned to the Engineering station. Chief Engineer Thel Ythysi sat looking at his console. Images of the Excelsior-class ship had red dots scattered in various locations, some turned blue then green as Kathryn walked up behind him. "How's he doing Chief?"
Thel didn't pause. "The ship sustained minor damage overall. The Voth anti-proton weaponry is not impressive and their ships, although quick, are like flying aluminum cans."
Kathryn smiled. "After that fight, I agree." She patted Thel's shoulder then stepped to the Science station where Omazei sat looking over her console. Trill marks were visible from her neck due to short brown hair before disappearing under the color of the uniform jacket. She looked up when Kathryn approached.
"Omazei, may I see you in the Astrometrics lab in fifteen minutes?"
"Of course, sir."
With that, Kathryn nodded and looked toward her First Officer, "Anthi, you have the conn." She entered the turbolift to make sure she was at the lab before Omazei arrived.
---
The doors to the lab swished open and the Science Chief entered the darkened room. A translucent image of the Solonae Dyson Sphere rotated from the center console and it's light illuminated the room, casting dark shadows in every direction. Kathryn was hunched over looking at a screen from the center console then looked through the image at Omazei as she walked toward her Captain.
"Thank you for being prompt. I'm looking at our mission parameters and I'm going to make a recommendation to change them. I wanted your feedback before I send the request."
Omazei nodded then looked at the screen Kathryn was standing over. The ship's current position was dotted on a detailed map with a blue triangle. Various other ships were represented as either green or red triangles for the Romulan and Klingon factions at the Sphere. Whenever Voth ships were reported by real-time feed, then a purple triangle would appear. The Solaris was in the relatively quiet Allied Zone, having just recently exited the orange tinged Contested Zone.
Kathryn looked toward the floating image of the Sphere above them. "What can you tell me of the progress for the Sphere's exploration?"
"It's proving to be a challenge due to the Voth's technical supremacy, thus the efforts of Joint Command have been to maintain control of the Allied Zone." Omazei tapped onto controls at a nearby console and brought up various data. "Yes. Twenty ships have been dispatched to conduct further exploration of the Sphere beyond the Allied and Contested Zones to date. As you know, this is a massive structure that will take many years to fully explore properly. All scientific research is delayed due to the conflict."
"Have they been successful?"
"Relatively. Progress is slow because of the scale. It's easy to chart a star system using long-range sensors and probes. But the Sphere is something completely different: there's the external and internal surface of the shell, with the atmosphere above and space between it and the star it encompasses. There is still argument if the Sphere will require using a new system to measure coordinates! Then there are the Omega Particles -"
Kathryn raised a hand to interrupt, "I see. If we used standard planetary coordinates, could you show me where Dyson Joint Command would be?"
"Yes, sir, but we have to make some assumptions, the first being that the Sphere has poles relative to the galaxial-plane. Given that- ", Omazei entered more commands and the image of the Sphere added a cylindrical line making an axis showing theoretical north and south poles. Then very small areas became highlighted toward the zenith pole. It expanded as Omazei zoomed-in, forcing the Sphere's borders to disappear. "- DJC is approximately at 36 degrees 10 minutes 30 seconds North, 115 degrees 8 minutes 11 seconds West in the northern hemisphere. Give or take several seconds, if not minutes because of the scale."
"Interesting. By chance, have any vessels been catalogued as missing?"
"Yes." More commands were input and more data scrolled on a screen. "The Misericorde, and Kerg'kak. Both deep space science vessels. The Misericorde was sent toward the western border of the Allied Zone and expected to have a 50 degree parabolic arc, whereas the Kerg'kak went north with a 30 degree arc."
Kathryn nodded. "Thank you, Omazei. This will help with my recommendation."
"If I may, sir. What is your recommendation to Command?"
Kathryn's eyes almost sparkled. "To go looking for the Misericorde.
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