Posted by: welchbloke
« on: August 28, 2019, 03:50:21 PM »2017UST 9th Aug 1974 – Bridge HMS Invincible Lalande 21185 system
‘Helm, all ahead one third, take us in.’
‘All ahead one third, aye.’
Madison Hughes felt the now familiar sensations of the transition wash over her and then she and her ship were somewhere else.
The crew busied themselves about her until her sensor officer spoke. ‘Skipper, astrogation reports we are in the Ross 128 system.’
‘Understood, keep passive scans active let’s take a quick look. Helm take us in system towards the primary.’
‘Copied.’
A few minutes later the sensor officer spoke again. ‘Skipper we’ve detected 9 wrecks in the system. 6 show as Precusor classes we’ve encountered before, the other 3 are totally unknown. The unknown classes are consist of 2 30050 tonne vessels and a 8250 tonne. The smaller ship is close to planet A-IV, the larger vessels are between the orbits of A-III and A-IV between 115 and 143 degrees. The precursors are spread with 2 close to the unknown wrecks, one is bearing 091 at 1.115 B km from the system primary, the others are spread between 135 and 146 degrees at 1.18 B km. These appear to be have been destroyed while heading towards the Jump Point that we entered the system through.’
‘OK, Helm, reverse course and take us out of the system. We need to call this in.’
1744 UST 15th Aug 1974 – Bridge HMS Invincible Lalande 21185 system
As her ship headed towards the last unexplored Jump Point in the system, Madison reviewed her latest orders: TO CO HMS INVINCIBLE FROM FLEET OPS. YOU ARE ORDERED TO PROCEED TO THE LAST UNEXPLORED JP IN THE LALANDE 21185 SYSTEM AND PROBE IT. SURVEY GROUP #1 WILL COMPLETE SURVEY ACTIONS AND THEN RETURN TO SOL. END
‘Skipper! New sensor detection. Target is directly on top of or target jump point. Thermal readings indicate either high power engines or large vessel size. Ship does not correlate to know Precursor emissions’
‘Understood Sensors, do they appear to have detected us?’
‘No indications of activity and no active EM detections have been detected.’
Madison made a snap decision. ‘Helm slow to optimal thermal management speed and continue to close. Lets see how good the emission suppression systems really are.’
As the minutes started to tick by she could feel the bridge crew tension starting to rise. ‘Skipper, still no movement from the target. No emissions detected.’
‘OK folks, this is starting to feel more like a commercial ship by the minute. Helm continue to close.’
As the minutes stretched into hours and the range continued to decrease the unknown ship continued to do exactly nothing.
0708 16th Aug 1974 – Bridge HMS Invincible Lalande 21185 system
‘Skipper, we are now within telescope range of the target.’
‘Put it on the main screen.’
A large, obviously non-military ship appeared on the screen. It appeared to have a series of framework lattices spreading out from one side.
‘Intel, what are we looking at her?’
‘Skipper, I’m not sure what the ship’s purpose is but it appears to be constructing something.’
At that moment, her new engineering chief spoke up.
‘Ma’am, that looks like some designs I helped work on for a ship that can build a theoretical system called a jump gate. The idea is to open jump points without the aid of a shipborne jump engine.’
‘Interesting, if this building a jump gate, is it sitting in front of the jump point?’
‘No skipper, she’s sitting about 100k km off from the jump point. I’m assuming it will move the gate in place once complete.’
Madison contemplated her options and then spoke.
‘Helm, take us through the jump point, no point in building a gate if there’s nothing on the other side. Comms, transmit my intentions to Fleet Command and include that I’m acting under my own initiative. Right, lets see what on the other side.’
0945UST 16th Aug 1974 – Bridge HMS Invincible Unknown system
As the Invincible’s systems shrug off transit effects, the entire bridge crewed braced themselves expecting a barrage of missiles to strike the hull at any time. Nothing had happened by the time the sensors came back online.
The sensor operator spoke, ‘Skipper, astrogation computers are reporting an error. We have a galactic position but the spectral signature of the star is already in the database.’
‘How is that possible?’
‘I’ve no idea, this is a fault no ship has ever reported.’
‘Run a full diagnostic of the system and recompute our position. In the meantime, Helm take us in towards the system primary.’
As they headed inwards, the sensor officer worked at his station; 8 minutes later he raised his head and looked at Madison Hughes.
‘Skipper, there isn’t anything wrong with the system, I’ve checked everything and used several of the sub-systems independently of the main AI. The reason for the error is because we are in the Sol system.’
‘You mean we are in a Sol-like system?’
‘No Ma’am, I mean we are in a system that is almost an exact clone of our home system. The star has the exact spectral signature, the planets are the same. There’s a clone of Mercury, Venus, Mars, all the planets including Earth.’
‘That’s not possible.’
‘I know Skipper, but that’s exactly where we are. A system that should not exist. And to cap it all I’m getting emissions from the clone-Earth. Emissions that are on a par with Earth. They are not an exact clone though, just similar levels of emissions across similar frequencies but we can’t interpret them.’
Shocked to the core, Madison Hughes looked at her bridge crew as the Helm officer looked at her and asked:
‘What do we do Skipper?’
‘Helm, all ahead one third, take us in.’
‘All ahead one third, aye.’
Madison Hughes felt the now familiar sensations of the transition wash over her and then she and her ship were somewhere else.
The crew busied themselves about her until her sensor officer spoke. ‘Skipper, astrogation reports we are in the Ross 128 system.’
‘Understood, keep passive scans active let’s take a quick look. Helm take us in system towards the primary.’
‘Copied.’
A few minutes later the sensor officer spoke again. ‘Skipper we’ve detected 9 wrecks in the system. 6 show as Precusor classes we’ve encountered before, the other 3 are totally unknown. The unknown classes are consist of 2 30050 tonne vessels and a 8250 tonne. The smaller ship is close to planet A-IV, the larger vessels are between the orbits of A-III and A-IV between 115 and 143 degrees. The precursors are spread with 2 close to the unknown wrecks, one is bearing 091 at 1.115 B km from the system primary, the others are spread between 135 and 146 degrees at 1.18 B km. These appear to be have been destroyed while heading towards the Jump Point that we entered the system through.’
‘OK, Helm, reverse course and take us out of the system. We need to call this in.’
1744 UST 15th Aug 1974 – Bridge HMS Invincible Lalande 21185 system
As her ship headed towards the last unexplored Jump Point in the system, Madison reviewed her latest orders: TO CO HMS INVINCIBLE FROM FLEET OPS. YOU ARE ORDERED TO PROCEED TO THE LAST UNEXPLORED JP IN THE LALANDE 21185 SYSTEM AND PROBE IT. SURVEY GROUP #1 WILL COMPLETE SURVEY ACTIONS AND THEN RETURN TO SOL. END
‘Skipper! New sensor detection. Target is directly on top of or target jump point. Thermal readings indicate either high power engines or large vessel size. Ship does not correlate to know Precursor emissions’
‘Understood Sensors, do they appear to have detected us?’
‘No indications of activity and no active EM detections have been detected.’
Madison made a snap decision. ‘Helm slow to optimal thermal management speed and continue to close. Lets see how good the emission suppression systems really are.’
As the minutes started to tick by she could feel the bridge crew tension starting to rise. ‘Skipper, still no movement from the target. No emissions detected.’
‘OK folks, this is starting to feel more like a commercial ship by the minute. Helm continue to close.’
As the minutes stretched into hours and the range continued to decrease the unknown ship continued to do exactly nothing.
0708 16th Aug 1974 – Bridge HMS Invincible Lalande 21185 system
‘Skipper, we are now within telescope range of the target.’
‘Put it on the main screen.’
A large, obviously non-military ship appeared on the screen. It appeared to have a series of framework lattices spreading out from one side.
‘Intel, what are we looking at her?’
‘Skipper, I’m not sure what the ship’s purpose is but it appears to be constructing something.’
At that moment, her new engineering chief spoke up.
‘Ma’am, that looks like some designs I helped work on for a ship that can build a theoretical system called a jump gate. The idea is to open jump points without the aid of a shipborne jump engine.’
‘Interesting, if this building a jump gate, is it sitting in front of the jump point?’
‘No skipper, she’s sitting about 100k km off from the jump point. I’m assuming it will move the gate in place once complete.’
Madison contemplated her options and then spoke.
‘Helm, take us through the jump point, no point in building a gate if there’s nothing on the other side. Comms, transmit my intentions to Fleet Command and include that I’m acting under my own initiative. Right, lets see what on the other side.’
0945UST 16th Aug 1974 – Bridge HMS Invincible Unknown system
As the Invincible’s systems shrug off transit effects, the entire bridge crewed braced themselves expecting a barrage of missiles to strike the hull at any time. Nothing had happened by the time the sensors came back online.
The sensor operator spoke, ‘Skipper, astrogation computers are reporting an error. We have a galactic position but the spectral signature of the star is already in the database.’
‘How is that possible?’
‘I’ve no idea, this is a fault no ship has ever reported.’
‘Run a full diagnostic of the system and recompute our position. In the meantime, Helm take us in towards the system primary.’
As they headed inwards, the sensor officer worked at his station; 8 minutes later he raised his head and looked at Madison Hughes.
‘Skipper, there isn’t anything wrong with the system, I’ve checked everything and used several of the sub-systems independently of the main AI. The reason for the error is because we are in the Sol system.’
‘You mean we are in a Sol-like system?’
‘No Ma’am, I mean we are in a system that is almost an exact clone of our home system. The star has the exact spectral signature, the planets are the same. There’s a clone of Mercury, Venus, Mars, all the planets including Earth.’
‘That’s not possible.’
‘I know Skipper, but that’s exactly where we are. A system that should not exist. And to cap it all I’m getting emissions from the clone-Earth. Emissions that are on a par with Earth. They are not an exact clone though, just similar levels of emissions across similar frequencies but we can’t interpret them.’
Shocked to the core, Madison Hughes looked at her bridge crew as the Helm officer looked at her and asked:
‘What do we do Skipper?’