A Signal

Posted on Mon Nov 18th, 2019 @ 11:35pm by Captain Gary Alexander & Lieutenant Ciara Perlit & Lieutenant JG Alexandra Campa & Lieutenant JG Jennifer Bullock & Karina Tell & Lieutenant JG Talia Flowers

861 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Mission 1 - Leaving Sigma Iotia II
Location: Horizon Bridge
Timeline: 2168/07/27 0800

Gary watched his crew as they worked. Some were obviously distraught and others were working determinedly. Everyone was dealing with the situation in their own way and generally not well.

However, Gary was an engineer by trade. All he saw were possibilities and solutions. It was an exciting time for him, albeit a bit disconcerting. He had plans for this crew. However, it would take time for them all to unfold. He knew they had to be gently brought to his way of thinking. For now, grief was what the doctor ordered.

He waited, hoping that Talia or Ci might find something to lift spirits.

Ciara had been working, though very distracted, on the scans that had been ordered. That didn't mean that she was hopeful. It wasn't like her to lose all hope, but at this point, that's exactly what she was feeling. Looking to her side, she tried to see of Talia was having any better luck than she was.

Talia Flowers might have been in front of her own desk at some out of the way place on Earth or somewhere amongst the stars... it seemed to make no difference to her dogged level of concentration.

Multiple screens had been begged, borrowed or jury-rigged to give her as much information as she could get at any one time. Scanning and monitoring both internal and external signals, pushing the transceiver to its outer ranges as the Horizon held course.

Until it was the briefest of pings. Or was it a ting? Or even a... well, whatever it was, it had never been received by human instruments before. And it may... yes it could...

"Captain?" Talia looked up from her task, the small... blip... really, was expanded to its upper and lower ranges. She had magnified it to ensure the minute peaks were clearly visible. And clearly NOT natural. Too uniform. Too predictable. Too... intelligent.

She was surprised to see his as well as Perlit's on her. As she spoke, a few more joined in. "I think... I see a probable signal of unknown origins."

Looking at Ciara she said, "I'll send you the data, and maybe you can triangulate to determine its origin."

Ciara had started to pick things up within the same moment that Talia had, but Talia beat her to reporting it. She was already at work on the signal triangulation.

If it was from the pink stuff... well, didn't that mean that whatever happened wasn't naturally occurring and could logically be duplicated? If it wasn't... well, wasn't that what they were all out here for anyway?

The signal was definitely NOT coming from the pink stuff. However, sensors indicated an area in a small solar system about 20 light years away. The solar system was centered by a red dwarf star. Three planets were in a gravitational orbit, though it was too difficult from here to tell what class planets they might be.

Without hesitation and before any report could be made, Gary cheerfully announced, "Head to that signal, Helm!"

"Course laid in, captain" Alex said as she quickly programmed the course. "Engaging at warp 3.6." Her hands remained on the controls as dark eyes rose to the screen, looking to their destination. New life and new civilizations.

He turned to KAT and said, "Record all of this. This is history in the making."

Smiling, her stylus at the ready, KAT nodded. "Aye, Sir."

Turning to his communications officer, Gary said, "Work on deciphering that signal, Flowers. I want to know what we're getting into!"

Talia, head deep in the multilayered signals, getting stronger by the moment, she sucked in a breath. Was that... a... voice? A... Looking up at the mention of her name, she nodded, responding, "Of course."

KAT hissed under her breath, "Captain."

Waving her hand to quiet the Yeoman, Talia repeated, "Captain." And dove headlong into the amplification of the signal, and... multilayered... ships? Voices?

Dear in Heaven, the Universe, on Mount Olympus or dancing on the head of a pin... The closer the ship approached, the more layers there were.

"Perlit, give me anything you can on that system as we approach it."

"Moving ze long range scans to check ze system." Ci said as she kept working on everything else she had going on with this new signal as well.

Over the comm, Gary called to Engineering, =^= Engineering, we have found something. Hopefully some friends. Be ready for anything, including gathering supplies. =^=

Jennifer had held her tongue long enough, now she was going to speak up, "Captain, surely we should go to tactical alert? We don't know anything about this place let alone that signal. It could easily be a hostile species that lures in ships with this signal."

"Very well, Lieutenant Bullock," Gary replied in a nearly bored manner. "Yellow alert."

Unaware of any passage of time or even the discussion of others on the Bridge, Talia Flowers' eyes shone with the prospect of discovery of the highest and most amazing of orders. "This may take a while." And for the first time, she realized that she would probably need help...

 

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