By the Stars, Pt.1

Posted on Tue May 6th, 2025 @ 6:13pm by Lieutenant Commander Caradan Eunidas & Lieutenant JG Olivia Keith & Ensign Ian Milkovich

Mission: Outside the Box
Location: M.S.S Qaraq - Helm
Timeline: After departure

ON:

The M.S.S Qaraq was now several hours into her journey towards the Neutral Zone - as fast as this old bird could take them. Thankfully the ship still had plenty of similar automated systems that Ian was familiar with, so piloting the vessel wasn't too foreign for him. He was used to the lightness and agility of the Miranda-class USS Marigold, so he had taken some time to get the feel of this heavier, slower, older vessel. But he was feeling confident that he could still pull off some tricks if required.

'If required' He thought to himself. 'When required. more like.' He frowned.

With that thought in mind, Ian called for Lieutenant Commander Eunidas and Lieutenant JG Keith to the flight deck.

Caradan entered almost immediately after his calling, as though having already known he was going to do just that, when, in fact, Caradan was already on her way. She entered the Bridge and ventured straight toward Milkovich. "Ensign," she said as she was approaching. She did not say that in any way of questioning as though wondering why he had called. She spoke his rank in a way as to indicate she had a command to give out. "Please make a course correction toward the coordinates that I just sent you a moment ago."

Ian's hands danced over the screen as he entered in the new coordinates. "Aye, sir." He replied. There wasn't a noticeable shift in the vessel's position, but their forward trajectory had changed, as indicated by the stellar cartography display on his right-hand screen. Ian looked to the new destination and frowned.

"The Valley of the Red Sun?" He questioned.

The new coordinates directed the M.S.S Qaraq to an isolated and desolated area nick-named the "Valley of the Red Sun". It was a small system, devoid of any natural life and no inhabitable planets. At the center was a very low-mass red dwarf star amidst a thick hydrogen cloud, which gave the area a frightful, blood-red glow. Surrounding the star in a slow-moving orbit was a ring of crushed planetoids; this valley of dead, jagged rocks created a menacing, teeth-like grin across the red sun's mouth. The appearance of the area was enough to give even seasoned travelers the creeps; enough to purposefully avoid travelling through the sector even if that meant adding lightyears onto their journey just to go around it. Those who did try to brave the grave-like ambiance and that wicked grin, typically didn't stay very long.

The Ensign, despite his position, couldn't help but look back to the Lieutenant Commander with skepticism over the course change.

"Relax Ensign," she said before turning toward the captain's chair, that she would, of course, relinquish it the moment Mindo arrived, "there is something there that we want. You should find an unnamed and rather uninteresting dwarf planet about 30 million miles outside of the debris ring following an eccentric and inclined orbit. It is tidally locked onto the star. What we want is in the planet's shadow on the far side."

Ian furrowed his brow but he gave a nod, returning to look back at the ship's console. "Aye."

Olivia entered the flight deck offering an apologetic smile. “Sorry I’m late what have we got?” She looked curiously between Caradan and Ian.

"Valley of the Red Sun," Caradan said as she took the captain's chair, "is where we are headed. Contrary to all reports, there is something of interest for us there." Caradan knew the place was devoid of any and all life, sentient, animalistic, or plant. Some bacteria and other microbial lifeforms have been picked up here and there but the place had been, for more than 10 millennia, inhospitable for any life beyond that. Acidic atmospheres and frequent collisions would have destroyed any sign of ancient civilizations. Still, "we will be in the area for a few hours if you want to get some archaeological scans."

"The... something... is it living?" Ian asked, trying but failing to withhold the skeptic. "Are you expecting to find the Captain?"

Olivia lookec curiously towards Caradan awaiting the answer to Ian’s question. Looking down at the controls as she sat down she set up a series of scans to gather as much information as they could get.

"No," Caradan responded. "We are not expecting to find the captain or the Pandora there. Neither are we aware of any living thing there outside of bacteria. Just...something we need to continue our search is all." Sure the FERD was a need to know object and there was certainly no harm in letting the crew know, Caradan found herself somewhat preoccupied as she thought more on the White-Eyed Watcher, wondering when or if he would show up again with any useful information. Why only she was visited by him while everyone else got the mysterious stranger was also something she sought answers to.

“Aye.” Ian added once more, though his curiosity had not been satisfied. “At warp six, we should be there within two hours. We don’t have much in terms of shielding so I’ll need to manually manoeuvre the ship once we’re close enough. My margin for error is razor thin.”

“I’ve set sensors to gather as much information as we possibly can, it should make for interesting studying later on.” Olivia smiled.

“A bunch of bacteria on dead rocks?” Ian remarked. “Well, I guess there would be more now that the Pandora was apparently there.” He said very casually.

“We can only but hope” Olivia smiled warmly. “I’ll adjust manually for any dips in sensor output, we don’t want to miss a thing.”

"No we don't" Caradan said audibly but was speaking, more or less, to herself. She stood from the captain's chair. "LT Keith, please join me in the Conference Room." Caradan swiped at her commbadge. "Captain, Senior Staff, please report to the Conference Room."

With that, Caradan spun toward the back of the Bridge and started away. "ENS Milkovich, you have the CONN, please alert me and the captain should the need arise."

"Aye," The Ensign responded with a curt nod. "I'll let you know if the bacteria starts acting shifty."

Olivia followed on behind Caradan, heading for the Conference room.

OFF