Fic: Observations, Ch 47
“The outposts on Asteroids Two, Three, and Eight are not responding sir. Outpost Five reports that it was in the middle of a transmission with Three when it suddenly cut out.”
“Do they have any info on what could have caused this? We’re talking about twenty highly networked, extremely secure military outposts here. They don’t just go silent.”
“The attack, if this was caused by an attack, happened so quickly that they didn’t have time to send out any sort of distress call or forward any information,” Nyota frowned.
“This may not be an attack, captain. Inter-asteroid communications networking is notoriously fickle. The outposts may be undamaged.”
“Three outposts, Spock? And all within a few AUs of each other? And weird activity going on behind the Neutral Zone? I’m not betting on a giant router overload. What’re your sensors saying?”
“We are too far out of range to utilize any of the detailed scanning equipment. However, initial sweeps of the areas indicate that the asteroids are still intact.”
“That doesn’t tell me a whole lot.” The captain looked at me. “Oh, no, I know that look on your face. Come on, spit it out. What’s weird this time.”
“Technically, these scans only reveal that the mass of the asteroid is still in same region. There is some evidence to suggest, however, that mass is simply that-mass. The spectra we received of Asteroid Two suggests that it is no longer an asteroid. Rather, it resembles millions of particles concentrated in an asteroid shaped cloud.”
“What? You’re telling me that Asteroid Two, a fucking solid iron chunk in space shielded by castrodinium, has been pulverized?”
“Disintegrated would be a more accurate term, captain.”
“Captain, Commander Tzu-Hanson of Asteroid Four reports that it is under attack.”
I immediately commed the Science Department. “Every long range scanner is to be trained on the area of Outpost Four. Data is to be forwarded to my console immediately upon receipt. This is our top priority-“
“Sulu, Chekov, get us there fast.”
“-Dr. Ahuja, take high definition energy readings of both the outpost and note an anomalous readings in the area. Dr. Palepu, Dr. Krivorotov, and Dr. Clark, focus our gamma-ray, x-ray, radio, and infrared telescopes on the region-“
“Aye, sir,” they said, already working on their respective computer terminals.
“-using Asteroid Four as central point. Make a recording of all activity as soon as the lenses are adjusted. Give me data and analysis as soon the unknown energy source appears.”
“Ready guys?”
“Almost, keptan.”
“Wait! They’ve opened a channel sir, broadcasting video and all data.”
“Put it on the screen, Uhura. Spock, are you getting all this?”
“Affirmative.”
“Chekov, keep plotting the fastest course you can to the outposts, and Sulu, get ready to punch it on my command.”
“Enterprise!” An elderly commander came into view.
The outpost was burning. Evidently the machine used some high energy beam to penetrate the defensive shielding. Another round would undoubtedly disintegrate the asteroid and everything on it.
“Commander, what happened?”
“They came out of nowhere,” he coughed.
Spock \\: Standard frame of reference, spherical coordinates (ρ, θ, φ). (0, 0, 0) = Outpost 4, (x, 0, 0) = Enterprise
Ahuja \\: Unidentified energy source = (0.75 AU, -2.59, -0.41), d^2T/dt^2 = 13.9 Kelvin/s^2.
Palepu \\: No significant gamma ray readings.
Spock \\: Ahuja: Is d^2T/dt^2 correct? It is not dT/dt?
Ahuja \\: d^2T/dt^2. In 34 seconds, T = 5.6 × 10^4 K
“The first round hit the entire asteroid, blasted through our deflector field, and fried our shields completely. It’s superheated the iron. We won’t last must longer even if they don’t hit us again.”
Krivorotov \\: Slight radio image (ρ, θ, φ) = (0.72 AU, -2.66, -0.40). May be noise, growing in intensity.
Clark \\: Unidentified infrared source = (0.74 AU, -2.60, -0.43), d^2T/dt^2 = 13.6 K/s^2. Ast4 = 3.3 μm. unID IR radius enlarging, d^2r/ dt^2 = 3.15 × 10^2 m/s^2
“Everything’s burning here, most of our instruments are useless. Only thing we’ve got is a telescope scanning the sky and this black box communicator.”
“Sir! It’s appeared again!”
“Do you see it, captain?! Do you see it? On the telescope, like a blanket of high energy particles-“
“Tzu!”
The connection was cut.
Spock \\: ALL-Track any signal in (0.75 AU, -2.63, -0.41) and the surrounding area. Palepu: Use Visible/IR to monitor the plasma field, especially rate of dissipation.
“What the hell was that and where did it come from? Did anyone see a ship? Spock?”
“Asteroid Four was the target of an extremely powerful plasma weapon. Our sensors indicate that the plasma originated from a single source as a concentrated beam, somewhat similar to a bolt of lightning. However, as it traveled through space, its radius rapidly expanded until the beam became an enveloping field. The energy spread likewise, slightly concentrated in the center of the growing circle. The radius at the time of impact was significantly larger than the maximum width of the asteroid and despite significant plasma dissipation, it was sufficient to finally disintegrate the outpost.”
“Where’d it come from.”
“Relative to our position and the former outpost, at the time the weapon was fired, it was located approximately 151º counterclockwise, on a plane 23º below us. It was 0.75 AUs from the outpost.”
“0.75 AUs?! That’s gotta be on a ship, there’s no way this shit was caused by some freakish nova event or cosmic windstorm. How the hell did they not see a giant fucking energy bomb from 0.75 AUs!”
“The weapon is somehow able to charge its source material, likely a gas, to 56000 Kelvin in the space of one minute.”
The captain’s eyes widened. “Shit.”
I nodded. “Readings indicate that temperature does not increase linearly, but parabolically. That is why the plasma did not appear-the gas had not yet been ‘accelerated’ to its plasma state.”
“But then the ship-“
“The fact that the vessel itself did not register in our preliminary investigations indicates one of two things. First, it may be running on minimal energy. It must be a small vessel to have such low energy consumption, and probably without warp capability. The ship was able to hide from sensor sweeps because it blended with the background noise the pervades space. If this is the case, we should be able to track the vessel if we search for it deliberately.
“Alternately, it is using some unknown cloaking technology to hide its energy signature. Such a device cannot, however, contain all the energy seeping from the ship. Where there is mass, where there is energy, there is a method of detection. Our difficulty would be one of finding the ship under these time constraints.”
“Fuck. Either way, we have a stealth ship.”
“Correct, captain.”
“Sulu, go to Warp 3 and get us in the area of Four.”
“Only Warp 3, sir?”
“That puts ETA at what? Ten minutes?”
Lt. Chekov nodded.
“I need time to track that ship and figure out as much as I can about it. And we need time to prepare.”
“Aye, sir.” Lt. Sulu said, keying in the sequence.
“Uhura, ship-wide.”
“Done, sir.”
“Attention. We’re powering down to just essentials.”
Ahuja \\: unID E leaves trail, though dT/dt = -60 K/s. H 111 M 14. May lose trail in 8 min, object signature weak implies size v. small.
“We’re shutting down all decks, everything except weapons, engines, impulse, emergency systems, sensors, computers, and Sickbay. That means no life support and no grav on Decks 4-25, so find some other place to shack up.”
Clark \\: unID IR H 111 M 14, dT/dt = -55 K/s. Compare Frame00 to Frame 18, unID IR T likely plateau at 478 K.
Palepu \\: Plasma completely dissipated. Final r = 9.2 × 10^3 km, final range = 1.4 AU. Plasma e- d = 4 × 10^23 e-/cm^3
“Everyone’s on NVGs. Scotty, power down the warp engines as soon as we drop to sublight. We’re on communications and energy blackout until I say otherwise.”
Linscun \\: Spectra of (0.75 ± 0.5 AU, -2.63 ± 0.74, -0.41 ± 0.38), He, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Na, P, Si, Uuh, Pt, Al, U, Cm, Ttr, DLi, XFr, Cs, H, Kr. Trace quantities of C, N, O, suggestions of H2O.
“This is taking effect in eight minutes, so get a move on. Captain out.”
“Sir?” I inquired.
“Two can play at the low energy game. If he’s not looking closely, we’ll look like an old supply ship, come to restock the outposts. I don’t want to give away more than I have to. Do you know what’s out there yet?”
“I do not believe that the vessel has any sort of cloaking device. It is a low energy stealth ship with a powerful plasma weapon. Certain of our sensors have been able to track its movement, but if we are to engage it in battle, we will need a more reliable method to know the ship’s whereabouts. They have an advantage over us, captain.”
“Where’s it going.”
“Heading 111 Mark 14.”
The captain let out a string of curses. “Romulus?!”
--
“Commander. A reading on our sensors.”
“What is it, Uhlan.”
“A supply ship, it seems. An older model, limited weapons capabilities. It is approaching the destroyed outpost.”
The commander’s young face became thoughtful, but was unmarred by any sign of worry. “That is no supply ship. Sublieutenant Tovak reported that the Earth outpost made a distress call to a ship-this ship that has arrived.”
“Then let us destroy it, so our victory may be complete! Our weapon is successful beyond the Praetor’s dreams.”
“No.”
“Commander-“
“Patience, Uhlan. We will first see what their commander does, then I will order the attack. Continue on our present course, but reduce speed. Their sensors will not be able to detect us at this level.”
--
“Uhura, do you hear anything yet?”
“Negative, captain. The trail’s gone cold.”
“Scotty, how’re the little trackers coming along?”
“It’s a tricky job, captain. These communicators here aren’t meant to broadcast beyond a few thousand kilometers. Yeh’re askin’ me to give you up to 1.7 AU, and I can give yeh that, but then we run into problems with their battery life. It’d only last about 20 minutes at that rate.”
“Can’t you attach a power source to extend the transmitting time?”
“Aye, at the risk of overloadin’ these delicate circuits. Then yeh’ve got nothin’. My lads’re working on cushioning the impact and sticking it, since you want to blast them from the photon torpedoes.”
“Weapons, how many casings have you got?”
“Twenty so far, captain.”
“Scotty, how many communicators are you wiring up?”
“I might be able ta give yeh 37, captain, but not more. I’ve already busted quite a few tryin’ ta get it just the way yeh want it.”
“Get them up and loaded in 15 minutes.”
“A man can only work so fast, captain!”
“Not good enough, Scotty. We’re sitting ducks here. I need to be able to see where the fuck those guys are. Kirk out.”
The captain turned towards another engineer who was modifying the displays.
“Done yet?”
“Practically, sir. I just have to hook up the projector and Mr. Spock’ll compile the controls program and it should display all the data you feed into it.”
“Good. Who was the genius at Starfleet that decided to make all our view panels two dimensional? How’m I supposed to battle in space-three dimensions! woah!-track the other ship’s movements and all that important shit, staring at a flat screen?”
“It was an unfortunate oversight, captain. There have been very few battles fought in pure empty space in the history of the Federation. Most battles fought in interstellar wars are centered around one point, usually a planet or some military outpost. As such, the frame of reference was never ambiguous and the view screens were sufficient for modeling any three dimensional situation.”
“Well, they’re not good enough.”
The holovid projectors flickered on. In the space directly in front of the captain’s chair appeared the star systems of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.
“Your solution is ingenious.”
“Make it zoom in. I want to see our position, the Neutral Zone, and the last known position of that ship. Put Romulus and Remus up there too.”
He asks for much, the captain. Shortly before we lost the Romulan ship’s signal, the captain demanded that I modify the programming of a popular 3-D hologame to instead show all outside motion through holographic projection, in real time. I edited and added thousands of lines of code and to create an extremely crude program that was in no way comprehensible to the average user. Even automatically feeding the data from the sensors directly into the program, I had to write in certain protocols that would allow the program to interpret that information. Everything else had to be inputted manually, including this zoom command.
“Sulu, are we still on course?”
“Still following their last known path, captain-111 mark 14.”
“And we would have picked up on something if we got into really close range with them?”
“Affirmative, captain. As we have not detected anything thus far, we may conclude that the Romulan vessel is still ahead of us, or that it has changed course.”
“Do you think it knows we’re here, captain?”
“Probably. But if that thing’s as low energy and small as we think it is, then the sensors’re going to be pretty crappy. Really good sensors also means higher energy consumption. They can probably see us, but not much more than that. Unless they have some fancy technology up their sleeve.”
“Unlikely, captain. If you recall, the Narada’s weapons were quite advanced, but their sensor systems were unremarkable.”
“That was a mining ship. This is probably a military bird, and it’s gonna be loaded down with as many advantages as they can give it.”
“Scott to bridge.”
“Are they ready?”
“I’ve got 31 trackers ready and loaded, sir.”
“31? What happened to 37? Whatever, wait for my command to fire them. Stand by. Uhura, you got anything for me?”
--
“My commander sent for Menkore.”
“A message was dispatched. You’ve broken the rule of silence.”
“Only in code, to inform the Praetor of the success of our glorious mission.”
“Your carelessness might have ended this glorious mission!” he roared. “And it still might yet. There is an Earth vessel following, Uhlan. You are reduced two steps in rank, and I’ll have you court martialed if you fail to follow orders again. Return to post.”
Menkore saluted the commander and sulked back to his post. The commander watched Menkore with shrewd eyes. A companion walked up beside him.
“Take care commander. He has friends, friends in the Senate and friends close to the Praetor. The Praetor is already suspicious of your ambitions, jealous of the victories you’ve wrested at so young an age. There is danger in threatening his supporters.”
“The Praetor can play with his foolish political intrigues. What does he know of danger? Danger and I are well acquainted. After our victories in this next campaign and the coming war, we will be old companions. I have nothing to fear.”
“We’ve known each other since our first shave, but still I do not understand you.”
“I think you do,” the commander smiled broadly. “Of course we both know what will happen when we reach home with proof of the Earth men’s weakness. And we will have irrefutable proof. This earth commander will follow, he must. When he attacks, when he makes that fatal mistake, we will destroy him. Our gift to the homeland-a war. To finish the job that Nero began.”
“Must it always be so? We have already lost so many comrades in this way.”
“It is the warrior’s way, it is our destiny to greatness. We are strong, and we will win the war, build our empire. We will take back what we lost at Cheron.”
“And you commander. What do you desire? The laur’uiel leaves?”
“Only a fleet, with myself to command and you as my second, centurion. We will sweep through this galaxy and place our names alongside the great generals of old.”
The ship trembled slightly.
“Commander! We’ve been hit by four projectiles from the Earth vessel.”
“That fool Menkore gave away our position. Though I wondered why the Earth commander did not fire immediately. What are these projectiles?”
“They are puzzling, commander. Metal capsules. Our sensors are detecting transmissions emanating from them.”
The commander’s face changed as he came to a realization. He began chuckling ruefully.
“Clever. Very clever.”
“Commander-?”
“It is just what I would have done.” He turned to the centurion. “He’s attached a tracking device to our ship. He is cautious, this Earth commander.”
“If he knows our position, why does he not attack?”
“First study the enemy, centurion. Find their weakness. Then attack. But we approach the Neutral Zone, and there is the true test. For I desire war, I do not fear it. I will pose to him a question.”
“You cannot think to break the silence, commander!”
“Perhaps you do not know me after all, centurion. No, I intend to find out whether he is as brave as he is clever. I will ask him-can he face instigating interstellar war?”
--
“Captain, they’re speeding up,” Lt. Sulu looked over his shoulder.
The captain stood before the holographic display, carefully studying the Romulan movements. Dr. McCoy had joined us on the bridge, along with Mr. Scott. The doctor scowled at the blinking red light representing the enemy vessel.
The captain exhaled. “They’re making a run for the Neutral Zone. Fuck.”
“Captain, the treaty drawn after the Earth-Romulan War clearly states that-“
“I know, Spock. I’m not sure it really counts anymore, not after what Nero did.”
“Discussing technicalities of treaties, Jim? Whether it stands or no, do you realize what this comes down to?-millions and millions of lives hanging on what this vessel does next.”
“Or what it fails to do, doctor.”
“Both of you, cut it. What I want to know is whether we can go up against that thing with a reasonable chance of victory.”
“In engines, it’s no competition. No doubt about it, captain,” Mr. Scott shook his head. “They’re runin’ on pure impulse, maybe some emergency warp tucked away. But a ship with the readouts I’m seein’? They’d have to choose between fighting or flying.”
“There is a weakness to their weapon, captain. The plasma completely dissipates after 1.4 AU, and the maximum radius is 9200 km. Furthermore, we know that the weapon takes at approximately 62 seconds to charge, and it consumes a huge quantity of energy in the process.”
“So the weapon has a limit to its range. Not surprising, if it’s plasma based. The real question is, can we outrun it?”
“There is existing a small complication, sir.”
“What is it, Chekov?”
“The trackers sir. We are not knowing where on the ship they are sticking. If they are sticking in the wrong places, we will lose their signal again. If we are wery lucky, communicators will be undamaged. But I am thinking that is wery unlikely, sir.”
“Uhura?”
“I think I have a solution for that. I can send out wide pulses of radio and ultraviolet waves. When they hit the vessel, they’ll be reflected back at all sorts of angles, some of which will be towards the ship. I’ve adjusted the communications receivers to read for those wavelengths, so I can ‘listen’ for the returning waves. Locking onto those reflections, the computer can plot the course of the ship, with 1.8 seconds lag. It won’t be as accurate as the communicators, but it’s better than nothing.”
“Can the telescopes help out, Spock?”
“Possibly, captain. They might provide positions every 25 seconds, but would not be able to give you continuous readout as Lt. Uhura will be able to do.”
“Put them on it, then.”
“Jim, this cat and mouse game you’ve got going is swell, fine, but what is your objective? What’re you going to do in that Neutral Zone and they open fire?”
The captain stared at the starry projection, his eyes reflecting its glow in the darkness.
“Sir, there’s a comet up ahead.”
--
“How pleasing to the eye it is. Behold a marvel in the darkness,” the commander smiled.
“You spoke of entrapment.”
“Its many particles will obscure their sensors, centurion. We use that moment to change course and fire, when they are blind.”
“We enter the comet’s tail, commander.
“Once fully obscured, we turn suddenly back upon our adversary. Prepare the weapon. Two thirds power with wide-sweep radius should be sufficient to obliterate them.”
“The screen is clear, commander.”
“Clear?”
“The supply ship no longer follows us.”
“Escape manuever one, quickly!”
--
“Sir, there’s nothing!”
“He guessed our move. Hold the phasers. Spock, where the fuck is he?”
The ship’s light had momentarily disappeared in the projection with only a slight, inconclusive trail of comet debris appearing.
Clark \\: Frame change, spherical, E = (0, 0, 0). IR spiking rapidly at (0.66, 1.49, -1.33)
The red light reappeared, angled below the Enterprise.
“Sulu get out, now! Hard to stern, get out of the radius of that thing.”
A red beam appeared and bloomed out, reaching and reaching toward the ship.
“More power, more power, faster-Spock, this thing’s radius is equal to its range-“
“It appears that the Romulans are able to control the range and radius, as well as power level-“
“No shit. It’s not fucking dissolved yet, brace yourself-!”
--
“Commander, the ship is damaged. They have lost 30% power.”
“30%. A good number to choose. At the range they were hit, the damage could be real or exaggerated. Does he continue to follow us?”
“Yes-wait. No. He goes on another path.”
The commander frowned. “We little choice but to proceed to the Neutral Zone. Our fuel runs low. But I do not trust this Earth commander.”
A shuddering heave. Several parts fall loose. A guttural yell.
“Commander! We have taken a severe hit on our starboard side.”
“Evasive actions, now! Sublieutenant, find whatever materials you can and make some way to interfere with their sensors! Pilot-into the Neutral Zone.”
The centurion lies crushed beneath a metal beam, his skull crushed in from the impact and his arm twisted at an unnatural angle. Dark green pools on the floor.
--
Krivorotov \\: Phaser 1, round 3, hit object directly. Phaser 4, round 6 grazed object. Phaser 4, round 7 grazed object. Phaser 7, round 2 hit object directly.
Clark \\: Slight increase in IR. H 137 M 40
“Uhura?”
Her fingers flew over the console as she constantly adjusted the pulses and the computer lock onto the signal reflections.
“Still have them, sir. One of the communicators survived and is broadcasting faintly. They’ve reached the Neutral Zone.”
“Who’s your deputy right now?”
“I am, sir,” a junior communications officer reported. He maintained his concentration on his own panel, assisting Nyota.
“Lt. al-Hasan, send a message to Starfleet. Inform command base-in my opinion no option. On my responsibility we’re heading into the Neutral Zone, engaging Romulan stealth ship. Lt. Sulu, get in a little closer and continue firing along their path.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Are we getting any hits in, Spock?”
“Affirmative. Why have we moved within range of their weapon, captain?”
“Their captain really wants to get back home. They haven’t warped out, so that means they’re running low on whatever fuel keeps them going. If shit’s going to go down, I don’t want it to cross into Romulan space.”
--
The commander’s face was set in an expression of deep grief. An officer approached him.
“Commander they stay within range,” he said, voice eager and urgent. “I will tend to the centurion.”
The commander stood briskly. He gave one last look at the centurion and turned to the officer.
“No need. The centurion is dead.”
“Commander, why don’t we fire?!”
The commander’s eyes were sharp and assessing. “No. No, he’s shrewd, this starship commander. He tries to make us waste energy. He’s estimated we have only enough-“
“Sir, the devices are ready.”
He nodded. “It is time. And all debris has been put into disposal tubes?”
“Yes, as you commanded.”
The ship rocked again.
“A shot grazed us, commander. It barely missed the weapon’s holding chamber.”
“Good. Reduce speed, but go forward to our homeland. I want that Earth commander to think our ship is breaking up.”
The Romulans saluted and turned to carry out their orders. The commander stopped one quickly. He nodded towards the corpse.
“The body of the centurion too.”
The officer’s expression tightened, then he saluted once more and took the body away.
The commander whispered under his breath. His eyes glint briefly. “Forgive me my friend, but I must use everything I have now to get home.”
--
“I’ve got debris scattering ahead, captain. We’ve hit them point blank!”
“Maybe, Sulu. Spock?”
“Vessel wreckage. Metal molds, conduit, plaster form and-a body, captain.”
The captain frowned.
“However.”
“However?”
“Insufficient mass, sir.”
“What?”
“Simple debris of a vessel. A trick.”
“Too simple. There’s gotta be something else-“
The holographic projection flickered and then shut down completely.
“What the fuck?”
“I am searching for the error, captain.”
“Uhura, can you get me in 2-D?”
“Negative, captain. That debris must’ve contained some jamming devices because I’m getting too much interference to locate the vessel.”
“It caused a malfunction in my program, as the data became distorted. The error will be fixed momentarily, captain.”
“Sulu, take us back out of range now. 59 mark 90! Go! Scotty, get me some more power!”
Clark \\: IR spike heading towards us. Velocity unknown, too much interference.
Palepu \\: e- d growth exponential (0.65, 1.57, 0.88)
Ahuja \\: exponential E spike.
Krivorotov \\: X-ray, Plasma e- d = 4 × 10^23 e-/cm^3
“Captain, the weapon is charged at maximum power-“
“Sulu, when that thing catches up to us, go Warp Four for two minutes, heading 111 mark 14.”
“Two minutes?”
“Can you do it?”
Lt. Sulu’s face became resolute. “Yes sir-“
“Jim, what the hell are you thinking?! I’m not a goddamn warp engine specialist, but accelerate to light speed and then punch the brakes two minutes later? We’ll have whiplash so bad-“
“Spock, give me ETA for that thing-“
“Twenty two seconds and counting-“
“Sulu, on my command. Spock countdown.”
“Nineteen.”
“Sir, yeh can’t do this! There’s no guarantee that-“
“Eighteen.”
“-goin’ ta Warp’ll let us phase through that plasma undamaged!”
“Seventeen.”
“I already know that. But you got any better ideas, Scotty?”
“Sixteen.”
“We can outrun it, sir. This ship’ll do it for us.”
“Fifteen.”
“Chekov?”
“4.7% chance of escaping at this rate, keptan.”
“We’ll lose them completely if we get out of sensor range.”
“Fourteen.”
“I’m not letting them go.”
The view screen glowed red from the forward sensors.
“Thirteen.”
“Chance of survival, Spock?”
“Unknown. This has never-twelve-been attempted before.”
“It’s like warping into the center of a star, captain!”
“Eleven.”
“If this works, we might not have interstellar war. If this doesn’t, all hell-“
“Ten.”
“-will break loose. And I will not have another fucking dead planet-Romulan, Earth-“
“Nine.”
“Andorian, whatever the fuck, on my hands.”
“Jim-“
“Punch it, Sulu.”
“Eight.”
Annotations
“Do they have any info on what could have caused this? We’re talking about twenty highly networked, extremely secure military outposts here. They don’t just go silent.”
“The attack, if this was caused by an attack, happened so quickly that they didn’t have time to send out any sort of distress call or forward any information,” Nyota frowned.
“This may not be an attack, captain. Inter-asteroid communications networking is notoriously fickle. The outposts may be undamaged.”
“Three outposts, Spock? And all within a few AUs of each other? And weird activity going on behind the Neutral Zone? I’m not betting on a giant router overload. What’re your sensors saying?”
“We are too far out of range to utilize any of the detailed scanning equipment. However, initial sweeps of the areas indicate that the asteroids are still intact.”
“That doesn’t tell me a whole lot.” The captain looked at me. “Oh, no, I know that look on your face. Come on, spit it out. What’s weird this time.”
“Technically, these scans only reveal that the mass of the asteroid is still in same region. There is some evidence to suggest, however, that mass is simply that-mass. The spectra we received of Asteroid Two suggests that it is no longer an asteroid. Rather, it resembles millions of particles concentrated in an asteroid shaped cloud.”
“What? You’re telling me that Asteroid Two, a fucking solid iron chunk in space shielded by castrodinium, has been pulverized?”
“Disintegrated would be a more accurate term, captain.”
“Captain, Commander Tzu-Hanson of Asteroid Four reports that it is under attack.”
I immediately commed the Science Department. “Every long range scanner is to be trained on the area of Outpost Four. Data is to be forwarded to my console immediately upon receipt. This is our top priority-“
“Sulu, Chekov, get us there fast.”
“-Dr. Ahuja, take high definition energy readings of both the outpost and note an anomalous readings in the area. Dr. Palepu, Dr. Krivorotov, and Dr. Clark, focus our gamma-ray, x-ray, radio, and infrared telescopes on the region-“
“Aye, sir,” they said, already working on their respective computer terminals.
“-using Asteroid Four as central point. Make a recording of all activity as soon as the lenses are adjusted. Give me data and analysis as soon the unknown energy source appears.”
“Ready guys?”
“Almost, keptan.”
“Wait! They’ve opened a channel sir, broadcasting video and all data.”
“Put it on the screen, Uhura. Spock, are you getting all this?”
“Affirmative.”
“Chekov, keep plotting the fastest course you can to the outposts, and Sulu, get ready to punch it on my command.”
“Enterprise!” An elderly commander came into view.
The outpost was burning. Evidently the machine used some high energy beam to penetrate the defensive shielding. Another round would undoubtedly disintegrate the asteroid and everything on it.
“Commander, what happened?”
“They came out of nowhere,” he coughed.
Spock \\: Standard frame of reference, spherical coordinates (ρ, θ, φ). (0, 0, 0) = Outpost 4, (x, 0, 0) = Enterprise
Ahuja \\: Unidentified energy source = (0.75 AU, -2.59, -0.41), d^2T/dt^2 = 13.9 Kelvin/s^2.
Palepu \\: No significant gamma ray readings.
Spock \\: Ahuja: Is d^2T/dt^2 correct? It is not dT/dt?
Ahuja \\: d^2T/dt^2. In 34 seconds, T = 5.6 × 10^4 K
“The first round hit the entire asteroid, blasted through our deflector field, and fried our shields completely. It’s superheated the iron. We won’t last must longer even if they don’t hit us again.”
Krivorotov \\: Slight radio image (ρ, θ, φ) = (0.72 AU, -2.66, -0.40). May be noise, growing in intensity.
Clark \\: Unidentified infrared source = (0.74 AU, -2.60, -0.43), d^2T/dt^2 = 13.6 K/s^2. Ast4 = 3.3 μm. unID IR radius enlarging, d^2r/ dt^2 = 3.15 × 10^2 m/s^2
“Everything’s burning here, most of our instruments are useless. Only thing we’ve got is a telescope scanning the sky and this black box communicator.”
“Sir! It’s appeared again!”
“Do you see it, captain?! Do you see it? On the telescope, like a blanket of high energy particles-“
“Tzu!”
The connection was cut.
Spock \\: ALL-Track any signal in (0.75 AU, -2.63, -0.41) and the surrounding area. Palepu: Use Visible/IR to monitor the plasma field, especially rate of dissipation.
“What the hell was that and where did it come from? Did anyone see a ship? Spock?”
“Asteroid Four was the target of an extremely powerful plasma weapon. Our sensors indicate that the plasma originated from a single source as a concentrated beam, somewhat similar to a bolt of lightning. However, as it traveled through space, its radius rapidly expanded until the beam became an enveloping field. The energy spread likewise, slightly concentrated in the center of the growing circle. The radius at the time of impact was significantly larger than the maximum width of the asteroid and despite significant plasma dissipation, it was sufficient to finally disintegrate the outpost.”
“Where’d it come from.”
“Relative to our position and the former outpost, at the time the weapon was fired, it was located approximately 151º counterclockwise, on a plane 23º below us. It was 0.75 AUs from the outpost.”
“0.75 AUs?! That’s gotta be on a ship, there’s no way this shit was caused by some freakish nova event or cosmic windstorm. How the hell did they not see a giant fucking energy bomb from 0.75 AUs!”
“The weapon is somehow able to charge its source material, likely a gas, to 56000 Kelvin in the space of one minute.”
The captain’s eyes widened. “Shit.”
I nodded. “Readings indicate that temperature does not increase linearly, but parabolically. That is why the plasma did not appear-the gas had not yet been ‘accelerated’ to its plasma state.”
“But then the ship-“
“The fact that the vessel itself did not register in our preliminary investigations indicates one of two things. First, it may be running on minimal energy. It must be a small vessel to have such low energy consumption, and probably without warp capability. The ship was able to hide from sensor sweeps because it blended with the background noise the pervades space. If this is the case, we should be able to track the vessel if we search for it deliberately.
“Alternately, it is using some unknown cloaking technology to hide its energy signature. Such a device cannot, however, contain all the energy seeping from the ship. Where there is mass, where there is energy, there is a method of detection. Our difficulty would be one of finding the ship under these time constraints.”
“Fuck. Either way, we have a stealth ship.”
“Correct, captain.”
“Sulu, go to Warp 3 and get us in the area of Four.”
“Only Warp 3, sir?”
“That puts ETA at what? Ten minutes?”
Lt. Chekov nodded.
“I need time to track that ship and figure out as much as I can about it. And we need time to prepare.”
“Aye, sir.” Lt. Sulu said, keying in the sequence.
“Uhura, ship-wide.”
“Done, sir.”
“Attention. We’re powering down to just essentials.”
Ahuja \\: unID E leaves trail, though dT/dt = -60 K/s. H 111 M 14. May lose trail in 8 min, object signature weak implies size v. small.
“We’re shutting down all decks, everything except weapons, engines, impulse, emergency systems, sensors, computers, and Sickbay. That means no life support and no grav on Decks 4-25, so find some other place to shack up.”
Clark \\: unID IR H 111 M 14, dT/dt = -55 K/s. Compare Frame00 to Frame 18, unID IR T likely plateau at 478 K.
Palepu \\: Plasma completely dissipated. Final r = 9.2 × 10^3 km, final range = 1.4 AU. Plasma e- d = 4 × 10^23 e-/cm^3
“Everyone’s on NVGs. Scotty, power down the warp engines as soon as we drop to sublight. We’re on communications and energy blackout until I say otherwise.”
Linscun \\: Spectra of (0.75 ± 0.5 AU, -2.63 ± 0.74, -0.41 ± 0.38), He, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Na, P, Si, Uuh, Pt, Al, U, Cm, Ttr, DLi, XFr, Cs, H, Kr. Trace quantities of C, N, O, suggestions of H2O.
“This is taking effect in eight minutes, so get a move on. Captain out.”
“Sir?” I inquired.
“Two can play at the low energy game. If he’s not looking closely, we’ll look like an old supply ship, come to restock the outposts. I don’t want to give away more than I have to. Do you know what’s out there yet?”
“I do not believe that the vessel has any sort of cloaking device. It is a low energy stealth ship with a powerful plasma weapon. Certain of our sensors have been able to track its movement, but if we are to engage it in battle, we will need a more reliable method to know the ship’s whereabouts. They have an advantage over us, captain.”
“Where’s it going.”
“Heading 111 Mark 14.”
The captain let out a string of curses. “Romulus?!”
--
“Commander. A reading on our sensors.”
“What is it, Uhlan.”
“A supply ship, it seems. An older model, limited weapons capabilities. It is approaching the destroyed outpost.”
The commander’s young face became thoughtful, but was unmarred by any sign of worry. “That is no supply ship. Sublieutenant Tovak reported that the Earth outpost made a distress call to a ship-this ship that has arrived.”
“Then let us destroy it, so our victory may be complete! Our weapon is successful beyond the Praetor’s dreams.”
“No.”
“Commander-“
“Patience, Uhlan. We will first see what their commander does, then I will order the attack. Continue on our present course, but reduce speed. Their sensors will not be able to detect us at this level.”
--
“Uhura, do you hear anything yet?”
“Negative, captain. The trail’s gone cold.”
“Scotty, how’re the little trackers coming along?”
“It’s a tricky job, captain. These communicators here aren’t meant to broadcast beyond a few thousand kilometers. Yeh’re askin’ me to give you up to 1.7 AU, and I can give yeh that, but then we run into problems with their battery life. It’d only last about 20 minutes at that rate.”
“Can’t you attach a power source to extend the transmitting time?”
“Aye, at the risk of overloadin’ these delicate circuits. Then yeh’ve got nothin’. My lads’re working on cushioning the impact and sticking it, since you want to blast them from the photon torpedoes.”
“Weapons, how many casings have you got?”
“Twenty so far, captain.”
“Scotty, how many communicators are you wiring up?”
“I might be able ta give yeh 37, captain, but not more. I’ve already busted quite a few tryin’ ta get it just the way yeh want it.”
“Get them up and loaded in 15 minutes.”
“A man can only work so fast, captain!”
“Not good enough, Scotty. We’re sitting ducks here. I need to be able to see where the fuck those guys are. Kirk out.”
The captain turned towards another engineer who was modifying the displays.
“Done yet?”
“Practically, sir. I just have to hook up the projector and Mr. Spock’ll compile the controls program and it should display all the data you feed into it.”
“Good. Who was the genius at Starfleet that decided to make all our view panels two dimensional? How’m I supposed to battle in space-three dimensions! woah!-track the other ship’s movements and all that important shit, staring at a flat screen?”
“It was an unfortunate oversight, captain. There have been very few battles fought in pure empty space in the history of the Federation. Most battles fought in interstellar wars are centered around one point, usually a planet or some military outpost. As such, the frame of reference was never ambiguous and the view screens were sufficient for modeling any three dimensional situation.”
“Well, they’re not good enough.”
The holovid projectors flickered on. In the space directly in front of the captain’s chair appeared the star systems of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.
“Your solution is ingenious.”
“Make it zoom in. I want to see our position, the Neutral Zone, and the last known position of that ship. Put Romulus and Remus up there too.”
He asks for much, the captain. Shortly before we lost the Romulan ship’s signal, the captain demanded that I modify the programming of a popular 3-D hologame to instead show all outside motion through holographic projection, in real time. I edited and added thousands of lines of code and to create an extremely crude program that was in no way comprehensible to the average user. Even automatically feeding the data from the sensors directly into the program, I had to write in certain protocols that would allow the program to interpret that information. Everything else had to be inputted manually, including this zoom command.
“Sulu, are we still on course?”
“Still following their last known path, captain-111 mark 14.”
“And we would have picked up on something if we got into really close range with them?”
“Affirmative, captain. As we have not detected anything thus far, we may conclude that the Romulan vessel is still ahead of us, or that it has changed course.”
“Do you think it knows we’re here, captain?”
“Probably. But if that thing’s as low energy and small as we think it is, then the sensors’re going to be pretty crappy. Really good sensors also means higher energy consumption. They can probably see us, but not much more than that. Unless they have some fancy technology up their sleeve.”
“Unlikely, captain. If you recall, the Narada’s weapons were quite advanced, but their sensor systems were unremarkable.”
“That was a mining ship. This is probably a military bird, and it’s gonna be loaded down with as many advantages as they can give it.”
“Scott to bridge.”
“Are they ready?”
“I’ve got 31 trackers ready and loaded, sir.”
“31? What happened to 37? Whatever, wait for my command to fire them. Stand by. Uhura, you got anything for me?”
--
“My commander sent for Menkore.”
“A message was dispatched. You’ve broken the rule of silence.”
“Only in code, to inform the Praetor of the success of our glorious mission.”
“Your carelessness might have ended this glorious mission!” he roared. “And it still might yet. There is an Earth vessel following, Uhlan. You are reduced two steps in rank, and I’ll have you court martialed if you fail to follow orders again. Return to post.”
Menkore saluted the commander and sulked back to his post. The commander watched Menkore with shrewd eyes. A companion walked up beside him.
“Take care commander. He has friends, friends in the Senate and friends close to the Praetor. The Praetor is already suspicious of your ambitions, jealous of the victories you’ve wrested at so young an age. There is danger in threatening his supporters.”
“The Praetor can play with his foolish political intrigues. What does he know of danger? Danger and I are well acquainted. After our victories in this next campaign and the coming war, we will be old companions. I have nothing to fear.”
“We’ve known each other since our first shave, but still I do not understand you.”
“I think you do,” the commander smiled broadly. “Of course we both know what will happen when we reach home with proof of the Earth men’s weakness. And we will have irrefutable proof. This earth commander will follow, he must. When he attacks, when he makes that fatal mistake, we will destroy him. Our gift to the homeland-a war. To finish the job that Nero began.”
“Must it always be so? We have already lost so many comrades in this way.”
“It is the warrior’s way, it is our destiny to greatness. We are strong, and we will win the war, build our empire. We will take back what we lost at Cheron.”
“And you commander. What do you desire? The laur’uiel leaves?”
“Only a fleet, with myself to command and you as my second, centurion. We will sweep through this galaxy and place our names alongside the great generals of old.”
The ship trembled slightly.
“Commander! We’ve been hit by four projectiles from the Earth vessel.”
“That fool Menkore gave away our position. Though I wondered why the Earth commander did not fire immediately. What are these projectiles?”
“They are puzzling, commander. Metal capsules. Our sensors are detecting transmissions emanating from them.”
The commander’s face changed as he came to a realization. He began chuckling ruefully.
“Clever. Very clever.”
“Commander-?”
“It is just what I would have done.” He turned to the centurion. “He’s attached a tracking device to our ship. He is cautious, this Earth commander.”
“If he knows our position, why does he not attack?”
“First study the enemy, centurion. Find their weakness. Then attack. But we approach the Neutral Zone, and there is the true test. For I desire war, I do not fear it. I will pose to him a question.”
“You cannot think to break the silence, commander!”
“Perhaps you do not know me after all, centurion. No, I intend to find out whether he is as brave as he is clever. I will ask him-can he face instigating interstellar war?”
--
“Captain, they’re speeding up,” Lt. Sulu looked over his shoulder.
The captain stood before the holographic display, carefully studying the Romulan movements. Dr. McCoy had joined us on the bridge, along with Mr. Scott. The doctor scowled at the blinking red light representing the enemy vessel.
The captain exhaled. “They’re making a run for the Neutral Zone. Fuck.”
“Captain, the treaty drawn after the Earth-Romulan War clearly states that-“
“I know, Spock. I’m not sure it really counts anymore, not after what Nero did.”
“Discussing technicalities of treaties, Jim? Whether it stands or no, do you realize what this comes down to?-millions and millions of lives hanging on what this vessel does next.”
“Or what it fails to do, doctor.”
“Both of you, cut it. What I want to know is whether we can go up against that thing with a reasonable chance of victory.”
“In engines, it’s no competition. No doubt about it, captain,” Mr. Scott shook his head. “They’re runin’ on pure impulse, maybe some emergency warp tucked away. But a ship with the readouts I’m seein’? They’d have to choose between fighting or flying.”
“There is a weakness to their weapon, captain. The plasma completely dissipates after 1.4 AU, and the maximum radius is 9200 km. Furthermore, we know that the weapon takes at approximately 62 seconds to charge, and it consumes a huge quantity of energy in the process.”
“So the weapon has a limit to its range. Not surprising, if it’s plasma based. The real question is, can we outrun it?”
“There is existing a small complication, sir.”
“What is it, Chekov?”
“The trackers sir. We are not knowing where on the ship they are sticking. If they are sticking in the wrong places, we will lose their signal again. If we are wery lucky, communicators will be undamaged. But I am thinking that is wery unlikely, sir.”
“Uhura?”
“I think I have a solution for that. I can send out wide pulses of radio and ultraviolet waves. When they hit the vessel, they’ll be reflected back at all sorts of angles, some of which will be towards the ship. I’ve adjusted the communications receivers to read for those wavelengths, so I can ‘listen’ for the returning waves. Locking onto those reflections, the computer can plot the course of the ship, with 1.8 seconds lag. It won’t be as accurate as the communicators, but it’s better than nothing.”
“Can the telescopes help out, Spock?”
“Possibly, captain. They might provide positions every 25 seconds, but would not be able to give you continuous readout as Lt. Uhura will be able to do.”
“Put them on it, then.”
“Jim, this cat and mouse game you’ve got going is swell, fine, but what is your objective? What’re you going to do in that Neutral Zone and they open fire?”
The captain stared at the starry projection, his eyes reflecting its glow in the darkness.
“Sir, there’s a comet up ahead.”
--
“How pleasing to the eye it is. Behold a marvel in the darkness,” the commander smiled.
“You spoke of entrapment.”
“Its many particles will obscure their sensors, centurion. We use that moment to change course and fire, when they are blind.”
“We enter the comet’s tail, commander.
“Once fully obscured, we turn suddenly back upon our adversary. Prepare the weapon. Two thirds power with wide-sweep radius should be sufficient to obliterate them.”
“The screen is clear, commander.”
“Clear?”
“The supply ship no longer follows us.”
“Escape manuever one, quickly!”
--
“Sir, there’s nothing!”
“He guessed our move. Hold the phasers. Spock, where the fuck is he?”
The ship’s light had momentarily disappeared in the projection with only a slight, inconclusive trail of comet debris appearing.
Clark \\: Frame change, spherical, E = (0, 0, 0). IR spiking rapidly at (0.66, 1.49, -1.33)
The red light reappeared, angled below the Enterprise.
“Sulu get out, now! Hard to stern, get out of the radius of that thing.”
A red beam appeared and bloomed out, reaching and reaching toward the ship.
“More power, more power, faster-Spock, this thing’s radius is equal to its range-“
“It appears that the Romulans are able to control the range and radius, as well as power level-“
“No shit. It’s not fucking dissolved yet, brace yourself-!”
--
“Commander, the ship is damaged. They have lost 30% power.”
“30%. A good number to choose. At the range they were hit, the damage could be real or exaggerated. Does he continue to follow us?”
“Yes-wait. No. He goes on another path.”
The commander frowned. “We little choice but to proceed to the Neutral Zone. Our fuel runs low. But I do not trust this Earth commander.”
A shuddering heave. Several parts fall loose. A guttural yell.
“Commander! We have taken a severe hit on our starboard side.”
“Evasive actions, now! Sublieutenant, find whatever materials you can and make some way to interfere with their sensors! Pilot-into the Neutral Zone.”
The centurion lies crushed beneath a metal beam, his skull crushed in from the impact and his arm twisted at an unnatural angle. Dark green pools on the floor.
--
Krivorotov \\: Phaser 1, round 3, hit object directly. Phaser 4, round 6 grazed object. Phaser 4, round 7 grazed object. Phaser 7, round 2 hit object directly.
Clark \\: Slight increase in IR. H 137 M 40
“Uhura?”
Her fingers flew over the console as she constantly adjusted the pulses and the computer lock onto the signal reflections.
“Still have them, sir. One of the communicators survived and is broadcasting faintly. They’ve reached the Neutral Zone.”
“Who’s your deputy right now?”
“I am, sir,” a junior communications officer reported. He maintained his concentration on his own panel, assisting Nyota.
“Lt. al-Hasan, send a message to Starfleet. Inform command base-in my opinion no option. On my responsibility we’re heading into the Neutral Zone, engaging Romulan stealth ship. Lt. Sulu, get in a little closer and continue firing along their path.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Are we getting any hits in, Spock?”
“Affirmative. Why have we moved within range of their weapon, captain?”
“Their captain really wants to get back home. They haven’t warped out, so that means they’re running low on whatever fuel keeps them going. If shit’s going to go down, I don’t want it to cross into Romulan space.”
--
The commander’s face was set in an expression of deep grief. An officer approached him.
“Commander they stay within range,” he said, voice eager and urgent. “I will tend to the centurion.”
The commander stood briskly. He gave one last look at the centurion and turned to the officer.
“No need. The centurion is dead.”
“Commander, why don’t we fire?!”
The commander’s eyes were sharp and assessing. “No. No, he’s shrewd, this starship commander. He tries to make us waste energy. He’s estimated we have only enough-“
“Sir, the devices are ready.”
He nodded. “It is time. And all debris has been put into disposal tubes?”
“Yes, as you commanded.”
The ship rocked again.
“A shot grazed us, commander. It barely missed the weapon’s holding chamber.”
“Good. Reduce speed, but go forward to our homeland. I want that Earth commander to think our ship is breaking up.”
The Romulans saluted and turned to carry out their orders. The commander stopped one quickly. He nodded towards the corpse.
“The body of the centurion too.”
The officer’s expression tightened, then he saluted once more and took the body away.
The commander whispered under his breath. His eyes glint briefly. “Forgive me my friend, but I must use everything I have now to get home.”
--
“I’ve got debris scattering ahead, captain. We’ve hit them point blank!”
“Maybe, Sulu. Spock?”
“Vessel wreckage. Metal molds, conduit, plaster form and-a body, captain.”
The captain frowned.
“However.”
“However?”
“Insufficient mass, sir.”
“What?”
“Simple debris of a vessel. A trick.”
“Too simple. There’s gotta be something else-“
The holographic projection flickered and then shut down completely.
“What the fuck?”
“I am searching for the error, captain.”
“Uhura, can you get me in 2-D?”
“Negative, captain. That debris must’ve contained some jamming devices because I’m getting too much interference to locate the vessel.”
“It caused a malfunction in my program, as the data became distorted. The error will be fixed momentarily, captain.”
“Sulu, take us back out of range now. 59 mark 90! Go! Scotty, get me some more power!”
Clark \\: IR spike heading towards us. Velocity unknown, too much interference.
Palepu \\: e- d growth exponential (0.65, 1.57, 0.88)
Ahuja \\: exponential E spike.
Krivorotov \\: X-ray, Plasma e- d = 4 × 10^23 e-/cm^3
“Captain, the weapon is charged at maximum power-“
“Sulu, when that thing catches up to us, go Warp Four for two minutes, heading 111 mark 14.”
“Two minutes?”
“Can you do it?”
Lt. Sulu’s face became resolute. “Yes sir-“
“Jim, what the hell are you thinking?! I’m not a goddamn warp engine specialist, but accelerate to light speed and then punch the brakes two minutes later? We’ll have whiplash so bad-“
“Spock, give me ETA for that thing-“
“Twenty two seconds and counting-“
“Sulu, on my command. Spock countdown.”
“Nineteen.”
“Sir, yeh can’t do this! There’s no guarantee that-“
“Eighteen.”
“-goin’ ta Warp’ll let us phase through that plasma undamaged!”
“Seventeen.”
“I already know that. But you got any better ideas, Scotty?”
“Sixteen.”
“We can outrun it, sir. This ship’ll do it for us.”
“Fifteen.”
“Chekov?”
“4.7% chance of escaping at this rate, keptan.”
“We’ll lose them completely if we get out of sensor range.”
“Fourteen.”
“I’m not letting them go.”
The view screen glowed red from the forward sensors.
“Thirteen.”
“Chance of survival, Spock?”
“Unknown. This has never-twelve-been attempted before.”
“It’s like warping into the center of a star, captain!”
“Eleven.”
“If this works, we might not have interstellar war. If this doesn’t, all hell-“
“Ten.”
“-will break loose. And I will not have another fucking dead planet-Romulan, Earth-“
“Nine.”
“Andorian, whatever the fuck, on my hands.”
“Jim-“
“Punch it, Sulu.”
“Eight.”
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