The iHop Space Express

Posted on Tue Mar 31st, 2020 @ 5:10pm by The Narrator & Lieutenant Commander Amie Cerys

Mission: S2:2: Best Laid Plans
Location: Outer Beacon Star System
Timeline: MD 2 15:30

Space rippled, folded, and was rent asunder by gravitational forces unlike anything created by nature, and the Black Bird transitioned back into normal space in a shower of exotic matter. The Quantum Slipstream vortex snapped shut behind it, folding back into the loom of reality as if it had never been there. After a second even the corvette's hull began to shed the radiation load from the QS jump, fading into the background radiation of the cosmos.

Ahead of the little ship was the glowing amber hell of the Beacon star system. At is heart, like a blooded broken egg, was the brooding red giant star of Beacon. Around it a mass of expelled gases and pulverised planetoids hung like a funeral shroud, showing off where once there might have been life aeons ago. The irony of seeking life in that place, and courting hostile contact in the doing so, was not lost on the ship's small crew.

"Navigational data coming in," Bree reported from the back of the Black Birds Op's Compartment where he was sat at a work station. He was still as stone, but the combat droid was wireless plugged into the ship's systems. "We're four AU's from the red giant primary, eight hundred kilometres from the aim points of our jump. That's near-perfect for a dart thrown from ten light-years away. QSD drive is spinning down, internal heat sinks are dumping their thermal load as we speak. Estimated 12 hours until QSD is ready for use. Should I begin the checklist for powering up the Masker? Or do you want to wait until we have positive contact with an enemy unit?"

"I'm personally of the opinion that we should start it up now, sir," Jinn said from his console, looking over at Amie. "Better they don't even know where here for this first little dip, unless we need to make our presence known. Your call though, Lieutenant Commander."

"I completely agree. We don't want to be seen. Let's see what this baby can do, beyond what we already know that is." Amie grinned and glanced over a few of the consoles she had in front of her.

"Copy that, Masker coming online. We'll lose some computer cycles, but you'll only notice it if you look for it," Bree said. "Oh, and by the way, I'm detecting a Starfleet transponder code on the passive sensors. NCC 59783, USS Traveller. It's using an old transponder code, probable debris from the battle from when the Traveller had to run the gauntlet to escape this place."

"If there are no objections, I'm going to bring us over to check it out," Jinn stated. "Bree, maintain passive sensors only, please. And with that beautifully big computer brain of yours, maintain several warp trajectories out of here in case we need to make a quick escape."

Jinn's hands moved over the controls and he laid in a course toward the transponder. He had learned basic piloting skills at the Academy, skills that had been slightly honed during covert ops training, but he truly hoped that nothing popped out at them because he was by no means an expert. The way he saw it, if they were seen before wanting to be seen, the mission was objectively a failure anyway.

"Roger that," Bree said, the machine's turret-like head swivelling around on its gimble to look forward towards the cockpit's viewports. "I've got several courses laid in, only need the entry vector. Note of warning though, the deeper we go into the system the higher the particle density will become due to the debris clouds. If we go too far we'll need to transit via impulse to clear them before jumping to warp. Also, I'm picking up an audio signal from the same vector as the debris. Putting it on MC1."

The air popped as the overhead came alive, hissing and cawing with the sounds of stellar magnetic shear tormenting radio waves. And then...buried within static and the howl of a nuclear fusion furnace's swan song...was music. Tiny. Distant. Almost lost in the canyons and rifts of background noise, but it was there.

"-ake me home, country road, to the place, I belong. West Virginia..."

"... Mountain mama, take me home, country roads," Jinn sang along. "Well, I'll be damned. Someone on the Traveller had great taste."

He looked at his somewhat confused colleague and shrugged. "I was part of a barbershop quartet at Yale. We performed some classics." To the further confused looks, he added, "Listen... Don't ask me how or why, but it was a hit with the ladies. And the men, to be honest."

"Noted Sir," Bree commented. "Optical sensors have pinpointed the source of the audio and transponder signal. It appears to be the main sensor pod of the USS Traveller."

Between Jinn and Aime a volumetric hologram appeared, displaying a roughly triangular wedge-shaped object drifting in hazy space. On its top side were the scale-like vanes of sensor systems, and on the underside was the narrow trunk that would have connected it to the top of the Ronin class starships hull. A jagged, melted stub was all that remained. The hologram quickly became a kaleidoscope of colours as Bree processed it through a few filters.

"The specs for the Traveller say that the sensor pod has a large crew service area. Long-range thermals show its cold, but liveable with current outgassing suggesting there is a still a human safe atmosphere inside." Bree reported.

Amie had listened but let the other two discuss things as she tried to focus. It wasn't working too well, especially when the music started. "Why is it always catchy songs?" she mumbled. She then looked to Bree. "Sounds like an adventure waiting to happen." She looked to Jinn. "Do we dare?"

"I'd say yes, but you're in command, sir," Jinn replied, shrugging. "I know Commodore Grissom gave me power of veto if shit hits the fan, but trust me when I say I don't plan on using it unless we're really in trouble. I've read your file, I trust you not to get me killed."

"And whilst I'm replaceable I'd rather not be destroyed either. The hard-working folks at Soong Robotics spent a lot of hours putting my tin head together," Bree reported. "Side note, seems the pod took some damage. That atmosphere vent I'm seeing suggests some of the safety systems are still kicking, but there's a rock jammed in there."

The thermal hologram shimmered as more data appeared. A pip like rock now materialised, embedded into the aft of the sensor pod.

"Huh...whats odder about it is it landed smack damn on the aft secondary emergency access hatch," Bree noted, his Turing Emulator adding a not of scepticism to the machine's words.

Looking at the image, Amie raised an eyebrow. "Almost looks like it could have been done on purpose. That seems overly strange to me."

"The odd's have a fairly good chunk of numbers after the decimal point that it is, in fact, some sort of forced docking collar," Bree reported. "As we get closer we might be able to risk some of the active sensor gear, though that close in refraction from the dust clouds might result in our detection. I would suggest getting us close, and then allowing myself and a combat drone cross over to clear the sensor pod. Just in case. I hear tell fleshy organic's don't respond well to sudden changes in atmospheric pressure?"

Jinn chuckled. "Typically no, we do not. I'll bring us alongside and we can rely on visual inspection and passive sensors for now. We still don't know what we're dealing with in this system and I'm not comfortable risking active sensors just yet."

"Copy that. On minimal impulse thrust, so as to obfuscate our drive signature, it'll take us two hours to reach the Sensor Pod. I can man the controls whilst you two get a coffee from the galley," Bree's right arm raised up, palm out. "No need to ask me for anything, I'm good. Depleted matter power cell's good for a century or so. Keeps me perky."