Valley of the Red Sun

Posted on Sun Dec 22nd, 2024 @ 5:11pm by Captain Nycolas Temple

Mission: The Only Thing Left Was Hope
Location: Alpha Quadrant - Near the Neutral Zone Border

ON:

Nyx had been travelling in the S.S. Prime towards the Khonsu Sector - his previous efforts in tracing the anomaly’s path had indicated that this would be a potential future contact point. He had calculated the anomaly would appear within the next two weeks, and it would take him about a week to travel across the quadrants into that area, giving him a week's grace to try and pin-point a more accurate place to view the event.

However, a few days into his journey, the computer had recalibrated and suddenly announced a surprising new location where the anomaly could potentially appear first. That was an area called "The Valley of the Red Sun"; a small system with no inhabitable planets, which consisted of a very low-mass red star, surrounded in a ring by a series of jagged, crushed planetoids that formed the so-called "valley".

Nyx had contemplated whether to continue on to Khonsu or divert off to the Valley first. Having never seen the anomaly for himself, only having heard about it second-hand through the Protector and the VERS-1 pilots, he was keen to see the phenomenon as soon as possible. He had decided the risk to his schedule would be worth it if it meant he was able to get an earlier insight into the mysterious event.

After diverting to the Valley region, Nyx powered down the S.S Prime as the dim star and its moons came into view. Unlike the Sol system's yellow brightness that he was used to, this area looked more menacing and uninviting as it was entirely soaked in a deep red hue by the small star. The dead planetoids, which had been long ago drawn in by the star's gravitational field then crushed together into a barren desert of lifeless rock, were all tinged in the blood-colored light, only adding to the sinister atmosphere.

There was an eerie stillness in the sector. No life to be seen, nothing could grow or exist in this desolate wasteland.

"This place gives me the creeps." Nyx remarked as he surveyed the scene through the shuttle window. "I want to get out of here quick."

With a shake of his head, trying to dismiss the nervousness he felt, Nyx got to work on the console, tapping away at his sensor readings. "Computer, any signs of the anomaly?" He asked.

The computer toned negatively.

"Increasing power to sensor range." Nyx said aloud to himself as he tapped in the commands. He was definitely missing the Pandora and its advanced sensor pod. "There must be something, computer. This is where the pattern was leading us."

Hours went by, as sensor sweep after sensor sweep found nothing. Nyx was starting to think this detour was a mistake. The risk had not been worth it. But he also worried that the calculation model he had used to find the anomaly pattern could possibly contain an error - as even the smallest infraction in the mathematical projection would account for hundreds of light years in difference. He could be looking in entirely the wrong sector of space. He ran the projections again simultaneously with the sensor sweeps, trying to find if there had been a miscalculation that would attest for a wrong reading.

The answer was always the same. The anomaly *should* appear here.

After some time, he stood up from the cockpit chair and went to the replicator. He brewed himself up a coffee, his usual way to break up his concentration, before he sat down once more. The sensor readings were still showing no signs of the anomaly.

Annoyed, Nyx looked outside at the valley of dead moons. He had positioned the craft so that the rocky abyss was blocking the red sun, giving his eyes a much-needed rest from the dark red glow. As he stared, however, he thought he saw... movement? Something changed on one of the moons ahead of him - the light from the star behind them flickered momentarily as if something had gone past it.

“What was that?” He exclaimed out loud. Surely nothing could be truly out there, he tried to tell himself. Had his eyes really seen something move, or had he just been staring at the rocks for too long?

Nyx stood up, leaning forwards on the console as he tried to see closer. He focused his eyes on where he had seen the flicker, squinting as he urged himself to see something. Then, after far too long of a moment, he realized he was in a spaceship capable of zooming in for him.

Sitting down again, Nyx switched his screen to the main viewer controls. "Computer, isolate this sector and magnify."

The computer did so and before him was an enlarged view of the area where he had seen the movement. Nyx began to concentrate the sensors onto this region.

"Search for..." Nyx began speaking then stopped. 'For what?' He thought to himself. There was nothing out there, nothing alive could ever exist on the planetoids. His constant sensor sweeps would have detected anything artificial like a craft or a station. There was nothing he could look for that hadn't already been scanned. He was chasing phantoms.

As he slumped back in his chair, Nyx sighed. He stared at the viewscreen, the dead rocks drenched in red.

Then, one of the moons itself moved. The dead planetoid seemingly shifted outwards, slowly moving away from the sun.

Immediately the ship began to alert in loud tones. "Anomaly formation detected."

That was it. The movement had been caused by the anomaly, a pre-cursor to its formation being that it had disturbed the space around it.

"Reset viewer to the anomaly formation location." Nyx called out as he studied the screen.

The viewer zoomed out slightly and in the space in between his craft and the Valley, a small white orb appeared in space. Even though the orb was no bigger than the shuttle, it was brighter than the red sun and it began slowly moving across the area from left to right of his view.

"Start a timer. Five minutes." Nyx instructed. The Protector had said the anomaly appeared for exactly five minutes at a time.

"Warning! Gravitational instability detected." The computer chimed.

Nyx watched as the white orb began to affect the moons as it moved across space - the orb itself deploying a strong gravitational pull which was causing the small planetoids to shift and crack. They were caught between the pull of the low sun and the anomaly, creating opposing forces of attraction. The conflicting gravity caused parts of the moons to break off, as weaker rocks succumbed to the pull of the anomaly. The pieces were vacuumed up into the orb and disappeared.

"Scanning the anomaly." Nyx said as he furiously tapped his screen. The readings immediately shot back graviton particles; unsurprising given the effect it was having on the moons.

Nyx saw that as the orb travelled, it began to get brighter and stronger. Size of the anomaly had increased by 20% in the minutes since its formation and illumination by equal measure. The anomaly was growing, causing stronger reaction to the space around it.

That included his shuttle.

"Proximity alert!" The computer interrupted with a loud klaxon. "Safe distance from anomaly has decreased."

The anomaly had continued to gather in strength and size, and the S.S. Prime was now on the outer rim of its expanding gravitational pull. Nyx switched over to the shuttle controls and began to input commands. "Engaging reverse thrusters." He said firmly.

The shuttle had begun to drag forwards with the pull of the anomaly, but the small engines started to counter-act that in order to hold the Prime in place. There was still three minutes on the timer.

"I need more time!" Nyx complained as he looked back to his sensor readings. "The graviton is interfering with the sensors... What else is there?!" He searched frantically through the data logs that were coming through onto his screen. A new finding appeared. "Dark matter?" He murmured aloud.

"Proximity alert!" The computer repeated. "Safe distance from anomaly has decreased."

"What do you mean?" Nyx cried, having to tear his eyes off the sensors to look back at the shuttle screen. Without realizing, the Prime had been dragged forward several meters. The anomaly continued to tear across the space ahead of him, getting bigger as it did.

"Full reverse!" Nyx called out.

There was a dramatic whirring as the shuttle's warp engines engaged. However, the craft itself failed to move backwards. Instead, it pulled forwards once more.

"Computer, increase power to engines." Nyx commanded, as he input his orders. "Get me out of here!"

The computer toned negatively. "Unable to comply. Safe distance from anomaly has decreased."

The Prime lurched forward again.

"Shields at 56%." The computer reported. "Structural integrity falling."

Nyx swallowed hard as he realized he was getting pulled closer and closer to the anomaly. He looked to the timer - two minutes left.

"Diverting all power to Engines." He said, turning off the sensor sweeps and redirecting the power supply back to the Prime’s warp drive.

The shuttle's engines were glowing bright blue now and the slow creep towards the anomaly halted. But he didn't move out of its increasing range. He was starting to worry that he would have to choose between taking action to destroy the anomaly or risk getting pulled inside of it. After straining and struggling, the warp drive began to falter.

"COME ON!" Nyx yelled, urging them to keep going.

But it was no use, they couldn't compete against the anomaly.

"Warp engines offline." The computer reported.

Nyx was jolted back into his seat as the engines gave way and the shuttle jolted forwards. The reverse thrusters were still trying to hold her in place but it was no use, the Prime was getting dragged closer and closer to the anomaly. The timer showed 60 seconds remaining. The shuttle would likely be consumed before that expired.

"Shields at 24%." The computer added.

His hands darting across the screen as quickly as he could, Nyx began trying to muster up more power for the shields. The shuttle began to groan and creak as it strained against the opposing forces. A console sparked behind him and the power within the cockpit flickered off. For a moment, only the light of the orb shone brightly into the cabin of the Prime. It was an all-encompassing, ominous sight that he was being helplessly drawn towards through its superior strength. Gone was the menacing red hue of the small star, out-shined by this over-powering white light. And yet, this was not a biblical call from a higher power, but a destructive force that threatened to crush and destroy him. A moment later, the cabin systems were restored and Nyx blinked as the normal lights returned.

The Prime began to spin around as the pull destabilized the shuttle's inertial dampeners. Without much choice, Nyx brought the weapon systems online and began to target the anomaly. The timer was running down the last thirty seconds, but he had to act now. If the orb was going to swallow him, he was determined to make it choke first.

"Powering photon torpedoes." Nyx called out, hitting the buttons hard.

As the Prime spun around into facing the orb once more, the targeting system was about to line up with the anomaly. Then, Nyx remembered that the Protector had been sure that the anomaly was a ship. When VERS-1 came across the anomaly enroute to Risa, it had also given signs of a ship. He knew the torpedoes could likely help him escape if he destroyed the orb, but he didn't know what he would be destroying.

"Computer, can you detect any ships or artificial technology within the anomaly?" Nyx called out as he tried again to find sensor readings.

"Negative." The computer replied. Then, it beeped. "Correction. Positive." Another beep. "Correction. Negative."

On screen, the readings were switching between false and positive. False then positive.

He had to be sure.

"Send it a subspace hail." Nyx suddenly thought. He turned to the Comms panel and began to relay a message. "Identifying myself as Starfleet vessel S.S. Prime of the USS Pandora."

The shuttle sent off the signal into the anomaly. The orb seemingly slowed down, halting its path across the region. The space around it began to fold over, as if closing the hole that it had created. The light dimmed and the shuttle stopped spinning and started drifting slowly. Nyx maneuvered to view the anomaly as it dissipated as quickly as it had appeared.

The timer began to run down.

Three.

Two.

The anomaly was gone.

The planetoid valley stopped moving, the light from the orb faded. There was only the dim red hue of the star once more. A dead calm washed over the region. Nyx disengaged the thrusters, allowing the shuttle to come to a complete stop.

Leaning back in his chair, Nyx gave out a large sigh. The consoles in front of him were still screaming with alerts, power outages, engine failure, problems to be fixed. But he felt the real danger had passed and he was going to take a second to relax. He unclenched his jaw and allowed his breath to return to normal. He was drenched in sweat, his heart still racing.

After a moment, the shuttle beeped. "Message received."

Nyx looked over to the comms console and frowned. He opened up the message. It was a hail, showing the origins as the USS Pandora.

"Computer, is this my hail?" Nyx asked confused, deeply furrowing his brow. He began to wonder if the anomaly's disappearance had been entirely coincidental, and the signal he received was merely the hail he had sent out rebounding back to him.

"Negative." The computer replied. Then, it beeped. "Correction. Positive." Another beep. "Correction. Negative."

Nyx could only place his head into his hands.

*****

"Captain's Log, classified.

I have finally encountered the anomaly for myself. I have witnessed its appearance, and its power. The anomaly appears as a white orb of unknown origins. I have found it exudes graviton particles and dark matter, with a gravitational pull like a small black hole. There is an initial disturbance in the surrounding space before its formation, giving a small early indication of its arrival. Once formed, the white orb continues to grow in size, force, and illumination, potentially at an exponential rate. And it travels across the immediate area at a slow pace, by its own propulsion and unaffected by local forces, such as a star.

The readings were incongruent with earlier appearances. It did not appear as a ship as it had done previously. Instead, it was a destructive orb of strong gravitational power, capable of disrupting and even enveloping objects in our space. I myself was in jeopardy of being consumed by the anomaly had I been pulled close enough.

The Protector did mention that his beacon disappeared after the appearance of the anomaly near to it. My new theory is that it's entirely possible therefore that the anomaly has enveloped or destroyed the beacon, rather than it being taken by someone.

Sensor readings remain inconclusive on the origins of the anomaly. Sensors both did - and did not - detect a ship within the orb. I believed it had reacted to my hail, but that could have been a coincidence. The total appearance time of the anomaly had been five minutes, which was consistent with prior appearances.

My projections have depicted the anomaly moving in an outwards spiral away from the Sol system. If the anomaly is man-made, and was designed to prevent us from finding the Pandora, is it possible that someone is now trying to move it out of Federation space? Either to continue to hide the Pandora, or because they have lost control of it?

Is it to prevent further destruction, or to prevent us from finding out what’s inside the anomaly?

I just don't know.

What is clear, however, is that this orb poses a threat to any objects in the vicinity of its gravitational pull. From my experience, the pull only increases as the object appears, meaning it is becoming more dangerous as it continues. If the anomaly is connected to the disappearance of the Pandora, it is my responsibility now to ensure it does not harm anyone else.

I must undertake some urgent repairs of the S.S. Prime before I can get going again. But as soon as I am able to, I will return to my original destination of the Khonsu sector. It is important that I get there and evacuate anyone within the anomaly's path. Lives could be at stake.

I just hope I am not too late."

OFF