Stardate: 8.2.2258
Location: Sector 5,15, near the Torian Southern and Drengin Western Colonization Region border
Location: Sector 5,15, near the Torian Southern and Drengin Western Colonization Region border
The NX-1 class Advanced Exploration Cruiser was indeed a work of beauty. Smooth lines, a huge streamlined body - the epitome of advanced Alliance engineering. Gone were the old days when ships would take several months to move from one sector to another. The NX-1 could cover an entire sector within a single month (it was a measure of how vast the Alliance’s territories were, that it would take an NX-1 more than five months to cross across the entire volume of Alliance controlled space, even at top speed).
Right now though the T.A.S. Oracle was gliding slowly through space at minimal speed, in a programmed series of drift-and-dash maneuvers, its sensors searching space for any signs of gravitic distortion, which would indicate the presence of a starship or other objects, like starbases or space debris. Although not capable of giving much detail, the Gravitic Distortion Detector allowed the Alliance ship to detect ships at extreme range, upto 7 parsecs away, without any active detectable emission. Once any ship was detected, the Nexus would stealthily track and approach its target, allowing the other passive sensors, like Modulated Particle Analysers, BVR Telescopes, LR Infrared Receivers and Signal Trappers to analyse the target specifications from a safe distance.
The NX-1 had been patrolling this border region for weeks, its mission - to chart out enemy territory and use coded ultrawave data bursts to report the positions and composition of Drengin defenses and ships to operators aboard the T.A.S. Warhammer, the flagship of the nearby approaching 1st Battle Group. A dangerous job, as had been amply proved by the loss of the legendary T.A.S. Enterprise a few weeks ago - an incident, that along with the Omega 7 attack had led to the re-kindling of hostilities between the Alliance and the Empire. So far though, no enemy ships had been detected.
Captain John Conrad was in his private room, catching up on some much needed sleep, when his communicator started buzzing.
Uttering a string of colourful curses, the captain got up and blearily reached for the communicator.
As soon as he activated the communicator, the voice of his First Officer Parsons informed him that he was urgently needed on the bridge.
Just another false alarm, he thought wearily. But he had to get up nevertheless – after all it came with the job…
----
A few minutes later, as he stumbled through the turbo-lift doors to the bridge, he could sense that this might actually be the real deal. The tension in the air was palpable, though everyone was doing his or her job, stoically refraining from looking at him.
“Report Ms. Parsons”
The red-haired First Officer, Kylie Parsons turned and motioned for him to come to the sensor station. A Caucasian female from the former Canadian Republic, before it had peacefully merged into the North American Union, Kylie had beautiful big brown eyes that could look into your soul. They had once had an intense affair, but it had tapered off when both had realised that it was adversely affecting their work life. After all only it was only one in a million people who actually got a chance to become a part of Starfleet and it made no sense to throw away years of effort just for the sake of an affair that had no future.
Forcing his mind off this line of though, the captain nodded and moved to the upper portion of the bridge. As soon as he saw the Threat Indicator Display he realised what had happened. A group of 5 red dots labeled with myriad statistics – they had found the Drengin!
“Target type and composition?”
The Sensor Officer Mc Grille turned when he saw the captain.
“Hard to say from this range, but it seems like a full Drengin Killer Fleet, composed of Frigates and Escorts.”
A stab of fear went through his spine. If they had been detected…
Mc Grille must have guessed what was going on in his mind, because he immediately added, “They haven’t detected us.”
John nodded but couldn’t keep the relief from his voice.
“Can you give me a course projection?”
The Sensor Officer turned and tapped a few keys on the sensor board. A 3-d hologram of the nearby sectors appeared, with blue lines being superimposed on the red dots.
“We will be able to get a more accurate estimate once we know their speed and mass, of course…”
“…but the picture is clear enough. It seems that they are on an intercept course for the Poseidon system, which lies directly in the path of the approaching 1st Battle Group.”, the captain concluded.
It was the turn of First Officer Kylie to nod. “We guessed as much sir. That’s why we called you.”
John took a deep breath. Walking to his Captain’s chair, he sat down and stared giving orders.
“Okay everybody, you know the drill. Mr. Horatio, enter a course parallel with the target, but at a safe distance. Carefully please, I would prefer not to be detected. Mr. Grille, continue scanning – we must have all the details – ship types, weapons, shield defences, sensors, everything. Once we have enough data, we’ll warn Commander Gordon.”
Everybody resumed their posts and soon the bridge was a scene of hectic but organised activity.
Outside in space, the massive Warp Engines started thrumming as it prepared to activate the transition sequence to hyperspace. It was time to play cat and mouse with a Drengin Killer Fleet.
Just another day in the life of an NX-1 crew.
Right now though the T.A.S. Oracle was gliding slowly through space at minimal speed, in a programmed series of drift-and-dash maneuvers, its sensors searching space for any signs of gravitic distortion, which would indicate the presence of a starship or other objects, like starbases or space debris. Although not capable of giving much detail, the Gravitic Distortion Detector allowed the Alliance ship to detect ships at extreme range, upto 7 parsecs away, without any active detectable emission. Once any ship was detected, the Nexus would stealthily track and approach its target, allowing the other passive sensors, like Modulated Particle Analysers, BVR Telescopes, LR Infrared Receivers and Signal Trappers to analyse the target specifications from a safe distance.
The NX-1 had been patrolling this border region for weeks, its mission - to chart out enemy territory and use coded ultrawave data bursts to report the positions and composition of Drengin defenses and ships to operators aboard the T.A.S. Warhammer, the flagship of the nearby approaching 1st Battle Group. A dangerous job, as had been amply proved by the loss of the legendary T.A.S. Enterprise a few weeks ago - an incident, that along with the Omega 7 attack had led to the re-kindling of hostilities between the Alliance and the Empire. So far though, no enemy ships had been detected.
Captain John Conrad was in his private room, catching up on some much needed sleep, when his communicator started buzzing.
Uttering a string of colourful curses, the captain got up and blearily reached for the communicator.
As soon as he activated the communicator, the voice of his First Officer Parsons informed him that he was urgently needed on the bridge.
Just another false alarm, he thought wearily. But he had to get up nevertheless – after all it came with the job…
----
A few minutes later, as he stumbled through the turbo-lift doors to the bridge, he could sense that this might actually be the real deal. The tension in the air was palpable, though everyone was doing his or her job, stoically refraining from looking at him.
“Report Ms. Parsons”
The red-haired First Officer, Kylie Parsons turned and motioned for him to come to the sensor station. A Caucasian female from the former Canadian Republic, before it had peacefully merged into the North American Union, Kylie had beautiful big brown eyes that could look into your soul. They had once had an intense affair, but it had tapered off when both had realised that it was adversely affecting their work life. After all only it was only one in a million people who actually got a chance to become a part of Starfleet and it made no sense to throw away years of effort just for the sake of an affair that had no future.
Forcing his mind off this line of though, the captain nodded and moved to the upper portion of the bridge. As soon as he saw the Threat Indicator Display he realised what had happened. A group of 5 red dots labeled with myriad statistics – they had found the Drengin!
“Target type and composition?”
The Sensor Officer Mc Grille turned when he saw the captain.
“Hard to say from this range, but it seems like a full Drengin Killer Fleet, composed of Frigates and Escorts.”
A stab of fear went through his spine. If they had been detected…
Mc Grille must have guessed what was going on in his mind, because he immediately added, “They haven’t detected us.”
John nodded but couldn’t keep the relief from his voice.
“Can you give me a course projection?”
The Sensor Officer turned and tapped a few keys on the sensor board. A 3-d hologram of the nearby sectors appeared, with blue lines being superimposed on the red dots.
“We will be able to get a more accurate estimate once we know their speed and mass, of course…”
“…but the picture is clear enough. It seems that they are on an intercept course for the Poseidon system, which lies directly in the path of the approaching 1st Battle Group.”, the captain concluded.
It was the turn of First Officer Kylie to nod. “We guessed as much sir. That’s why we called you.”
John took a deep breath. Walking to his Captain’s chair, he sat down and stared giving orders.
“Okay everybody, you know the drill. Mr. Horatio, enter a course parallel with the target, but at a safe distance. Carefully please, I would prefer not to be detected. Mr. Grille, continue scanning – we must have all the details – ship types, weapons, shield defences, sensors, everything. Once we have enough data, we’ll warn Commander Gordon.”
Everybody resumed their posts and soon the bridge was a scene of hectic but organised activity.
Outside in space, the massive Warp Engines started thrumming as it prepared to activate the transition sequence to hyperspace. It was time to play cat and mouse with a Drengin Killer Fleet.
Just another day in the life of an NX-1 crew.
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