The Vastness of Space

Posted on Sun Dec 1st, 2024 @ 2:17pm by Captain Nycolas Temple

Mission: The Only Thing Left Was Hope
Location: Unknown
Timeline: After "Vanishing Act"

ON:

A blank field of dark space surrounded the S.S. Prime as Nyx stared into the empty abyss, hands cupping his weary head as he waited. And waited. And waited. The ship had supposedly detected a re-appearance of the spacial anomalies that he had been looking for, and he had rushed to the location with great haste only to find... nothing. He was surrounded by nothing. He was in some desolate region of the Beta quadrant, light years away from any systems or civilization. The stars around him were few and far between here.

Disappointment soon turned to boredom as he waited for something - anything! - to appear. He had sat in the cockpit of the shuttle, eyes growing heavy as the sensors continued to scan and then come up blank. Over and over. As he felt his eyes begin to droop, Nyx jerked his head back, realizing he was falling asleep. "Computer, one strong coffee." He called out. From behind him in the shuttle's replicator, a mug of hot coffee materialized. Standing up, Nyx felt the strain in his legs from sitting down for so long. He gave each leg a shake as he hobbled over to the replicator. Taking hold of the mug, he brought it up to his face and blew on the hot drink a couple of times before he took a slow, cautious sip. The beverage was exactly what he needed.

Returning to the chair, Nyx sighed, "I can't keep waiting here. This isn't helping." He leaned forward again and started tapping at the console, "Computer, show me a map of all likely sightings of the anomalies."

In front of him appeared a projected map of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants in a large sphere. Across the map, a multitude of green dots became highlighted, indicating the places where the phenomena, or something possibly resembling it, had been detected in Federation space over the past three months. The Protector claimed they had hidden the Pandora near Sol's sun inside of a bubble universe, with a beacon left in normal space to access the bubble. But, three months ago, he had detected an artificial anomaly, and after which the beacon had disappeared. Along with it, the Pandora's only entry back into normal space. If Nyx could find the anomaly once again, he believed he could find the beacon and, hopefully, the Pandora with it. But of course, that was easier said than done - the anomaly's appearances had been sporadic and unpredictable thus far.

Nyx had been running a shadow relay on all unusual data coming through Starfleet's communication network, looking for anything that could have potentially been the anomaly. So far, it had been like chasing ghosts on the darkest night. He had found nothing and seen nothing for himself. Now he had spent hours, maybe even days, in this empty region with nothing to report.

Leaning back in his chair and studying the map, something he had done many times before, Nyx stroked his fuzzy chin.

"Computer, run the analysis again." He commanded, "Is there a pattern in the anomaly appearances? Looking at the location of appearances."

"...Working..." The computer chimed and beeped, before giving out the same answer as usual, "Unable to determine."

Nyx frowned. He looked out the window into the vast emptiness of space around the shuttle as he ran through his mental process. He had been down this route before, and it had always ended up the same. What the Starfleet network had picked up so far just wasn't strong enough to give him the answers he needed. "Why not?" He complained, more to himself.

The computer answered, "The detection of the anomalies has occurred through various relays, long-range sensors, and residual analysis. A known starting point of all appearances cannot be determined."

"Of course," Nyx nodded, "Can't find a pattern if there is no clear starting point. What about trajectory, is there a common pathway?"

"Negative." The computer replied. "A known starting point for all appearances cannot be determined."

"Damn," Nyx cursed. He decided to try a different approach, "Okay, what about time intervals in-between appearances?"

The computer analyzed once more. "Unable to determine based on the current data." Came the reply, though a list of star dates overlaid on the map. The time intervals were all seemingly random, indicating there was no set pattern between when it would appear.

Back to square one again.

Nyx stared at the appearance points with quiet fascination, the hum of shuttle fading into the background as he focused on the map. If only he had the opportunity to experience the phenomena for himself. Feeling a need to touch the map, Nyx slowly reached out with his right hand, his fingers passing harmlessly through the 3D projection as he lightly touched one of the appearance points. The map zoomed in to the location point and he noticed there was a time duration on this particular appearance, showing how long the anomaly had been detected for. Nyx raised an eyebrow as he touched upon another data point and found another time stamp.

"What about the duration of appearances?" Nyx asked as he stared at the time. "Is there a pattern based on duration?"

This time the computer gave a negative tone, "Unable to determine based on the current data." It replied, and Nyx felt himself sink.

"How come?" Nyx complained again.

"The detection of the anomalies has occurred through various relays, long-range sensors, and residual analysis. The quality of the data varies too greatly to analyze."

Nyx rolled his eyes as he heard the same response from before, but this time something flickered in his mind. A thought of clarity struck him. "Okay then, remove all data points below eighty percent quality. I want only the confirmed sightings from beginning to end." The computer complied with a beep. "Of the remaining data, what is the average time duration of appearances?"

The computer considered this and answered, "The anomaly appears for five minutes exactly."

"Five... Exactly?" Nyx breathed out. He started nodding to himself, "Okay that's... something. It's got to be something." He clicked his fingers, "Apply a five-minute duration against all data points."

The computer chimed.

"And extrapolate a starting point for all appearances based on that duration." Nyx continued, thinking as the words tumbled out, "Now, re-map the appearances based on that starting point."

The computer worked. The projection changed as each of the location markers moved slightly.

"Analyze for a pattern." Nyx commanded.

Suddenly, across each data point, the computer drew a line across space. A spiral pattern appeared before his eyes. Starting from Sol's sun and projecting outwards, it appears as if the anomaly was not just randomly appearing but instead following a clear trajectory heading out of Federation space.

"It's a spiral." Nyx breathed.

"Confirmed." The computer responded. Even in that robotic, artificial female voice, Nyx thought he could hear a tinge of satisfaction from the computer. Or maybe he had just been on his own for too long in empty space.

"It's not just appearing, it's travelling." He said, "It can't be naturally occurring. Someone is directing - whatever it is. Computer, search the database for any possible correlations? What artificial objects move like this, that we know of?"

After a few moments, the computer beeped, "Confirmed. There are multiple artificial objects that will adopt a spiral orbit. Sensor probes, astrometric beacons, geological space stations, location mark - "

"Enough." Nyx sighed, shaking his head. "Okay, stupid question. What about a small ship?"

"Runabouts and shuttles can deploy a spiral orbit to evade or gain distance from an object or enemy." The computer answered. "Or to dissipate the warp signature of the craft."

"YES!" Nyx clapped his hands together excitedly. "It is a ship, and they are trying to hide!" He laughed to himself, punching the air above himself with satisfaction. "Okay then computer. Based on the pattern, what is the potential location for the next appearance?" Nyx leaned in as he asked.

The computer chimed and highlighted a large area on the map, still within Federation space but some distance away from where he was now and at least six lightyears in diameter. He would be in a race to reach the area and would have no idea where the anomaly would appear in all of that space. This caused Nyx to deflate from the high he had just felt. "We can't get anything more exact?" He complained.

The computer gave a denial tone. "Negative."

"At least it's something." He sighed a little, "What ships are in the area?"

"No active vessels are in the target area at this time." The computer replied, "The space station Khonsu remains in orbit of an asteroid field at the center of the target area."

"The Khonsu... is it unmanned?" Nyx bit his lip as he asked.

"There are three personnel onboard the space station Khonsu." The computer replied.

"Then set a course." Nyx declared as he sat up straight in the chair. He dismissed the map with a wipe of his hand. The surrounding black space came back into focus as he turned the shuttle about. He was not going to miss staring into the emptiness anymore.

"Maximum warp." He ordered, hands hitting the console with determination. Soon the front window became illuminated in bright blue streaking lines as the Prime hastened to warp. He disappeared out of the empty region and started on route to the new location.

OFF