Captain’s Log:

We’re into day 2 of our patrol. Currently on our way to the Coppelius system to run another series of sensor sweeps. While it would be easy to give in to boredom at the feeling of tediously going through the motions. The elbow grease we put in now will pay off for us in the long run. It reminds me a lot of the work we used to do in the cali class of this ship. Work no one else wanted to do. Only this time, we have a bigger stick to swing back with if someone comes for us. 

Tiberius leaned back, settling in for another round of reports, sensor data and nothing eventful happening. Tiberius thrived in those moments. Most people craved excitement, but Tib’s excitement came from the day to day. He figured it was probably because of working so long on the California class. He personally took pride in the monotonous work. Unbothered by the fact it wasn’t glamorous and glitzy. The stars of the show stood on the foundation of the work that crews like his own laid.

He was about to settle in to approve reports and reviewing maintenance logs when the comm chimed for his attention.

“Commander Kael to Captain Rain. You’re needed in the observation lounge.”

“On my way.” Tib said without hesitation.

Rising from his desk, he strode into the bridge and found the gamma shift seated at the stations on the bridge as he made his way to the lounge. Inside, he found his senior staff seated at the small rectangular table. He blinked, not recalling having scheduled a meeting.

“Okay. So what’s the party for?”

“Please have a seat sir, we have several issues.” Lorena said, gesturing to the chair at the head of the table.

Tib pulled up in his seat and sat down with a subdued grunt. “Alright, let’s get started. What’s the first problem?”

Lorena spoke up again, clearly having managed most of these projects administratively until they needed ultimate decisions. “There’s an issue with getting the point defense grid integrated with the sensors. Lt. Dex can explain.”

All eyes shifted to the chief engineer. The Rigelian male cleared his throat. “The power grid is having issues with the draw requirements on the point defense turrets. It’s not possible to run lines directly from the capacitors that prime the main phaser arrays. That’s too much power for the PDT’s.”

“Okay. So, what are our options?”

“Well sir, we can try to feed them power from nearby systems, but that might have negative impacts on said systems. The other alternative is building smaller regional capacitors. They wouldn’t need to be near as large as the main bank caps if we built them in an even distribution throughout the ship.”

“Okay, that’s a positive for option 2. Let’s cover the negative.”

Dex shifted, as though uncomfortable with not being able to just outright solve the problem before needing to present it to the captain.

“It would be an intensive resource draw, and set the completion of the project back by several weeks to up to a few months.”

“So the choices are run it through another system and risk losing both, or set it up to run independently but it’ll take longer and consume more resources in the short term.”

Tib leaned back, still weighing the matter. Ideally, he’d be happy to put it off and let the project run its course. But not having a system like this in the first place cost them the original Rubidoux. Heavy was the burden of responsibility and unfortunately he couldn’t off load this onto an admiral. No. This had to be decided here and now.

“No chance of having our cake and eating it to?”

“Sir?” Dex asked.

Tib waved dismissively. “Not important. Let’s long game it. If we need to stop off at SB17 to resupply ahead of schedule we’ll cross that bridge as we need to. If we’re going to overhaul this ship, I want to do it right. I don’t want a series of patch fixes that fall apart. We’ll need reliable and sturdy systems.”

Dex nodded, pleased with the response. “I’ll begin submitting all the requests through supply.”

Lorena gave the CEO a nod. “Alright. That brings us to the Sensor upgrades.”

Jel’kan grumbled. “The tactical systems weren’t designed that handle that much data input so suddenly. They’re going to need more than simple software upgrades.”

Tib smirked. “Let me guess. More hardware overhauling?”

Jel’kan nodded. “Unfortunately, engineering has advised me they would need to set up a dedicated extension of the primary computer core to facilitate dedicated processing for the new sensor targeting routines which would link incoming data streams through the IFF systems.”

“So the end result would be faster lock on times and threat identification. In exchange for some compromised space and additional hardware to process said data.”

“Correct.”

“Lt. Dex, how long will the construction take?”

“We believe we can accomplish the additions required at the expense of a few junior officers quarters. The refits will take roughly a week to perform.”

“What about the displaced crew?”

“We’ll have to have them double up on that deck. Additionally, there’s some unused civilian quarters that can be occupied with your permission.”

“If they’re available, I don’t have any problem with it. Otherwise, they’ll have to stack up and get some roommates.”

Nods all around.

“Anything else?”

“That’s it for now. I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.” His XO said.

“Very good. Thorne, let’s plot that course change. Remember, keep us a suitable distance away from the area. We don’t want to get snagged in any loops or other funny business. We want to get close for a good scan, but not too close.”

“First date close. Got it.”

He held up a finger to protest, smiled and bit back any words, and simply nodded. “That’ll do. Dismissed.”

Tiberius stayed seated while the command staff filed out. Lorena rose and paused when she saw he wasn’t leaving. She stayed behind as well.

“What’s on your mind sir?”

He shook his head, uncertain.

“I’m not honestly sure.”

Kael sat down next to him, leaving forward on her elbows exposed more of the markings on her neck and head.

“When I’m troubled, I like to talk at the wall. It listens really well and sometimes that’s all I need. So go ahead and think of me as your wall.”

Tiberius scratched the short beard on his jaw in thought for a moment.

“Sometimes I wonder if I’m not pushing them and the ship too hard. I know there’s a fleet mandate to find all this missing tech and round it back up along with those responsible for moving it. And because of that tech, we lost the Rubi. But am I pushing the crew too hard? With all these additional systems we’re implementing?”

Lorena paused for a moment, weighing her response. She’d managed these projects since the initial meeting where they pitched their ideas and had firsthand witnessed the crew’s eagerness to develop and deploy the new systems to improve the ship and assist with her mission.

“No. Everyone is in on this one hundred percent. Is it hard? Sure. Are there going to be challenges? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t ready. If anything, I’d say the crew are more than ready to step up and prove that we can handle this. And they are. The progress being made on the projects is phenomenal.”

Tib nodded. He was pleased to hear that, but didn’t want them breaking their backs just to please him. Though he figured it was more to do with feeling like they needed to do something to make the loss of their original ship right. Some form of vindication or justice. Even if it was only a slice of peace of mind.

The comm chirped, and both gave each other questioning looks. Neither of them was expecting any incoming queries.

“Lt. Thorne to Captain Rain.”

“Rain here. Go ahead.”

“Sir, you’re gonna wanna look at this.”

“On my way.” He rose with Lorena hot on his heels. As he emerged onto the bridge, he marveled at how different it was compared to the rustic and purpose-built California class bridge. He strode around and took his seat just as Kael took hers next to him. He leaned forward, taking in the massive image of a strange spatial anomaly on the main screen. It shimmered and flickered, like a star wrapped in blue and white smoke, yet strangely, it looped. It would swirl and warp and then seem to rewind and play back.

He whistled softly and leaned back. “Mom always told me not to play with time.”

“Smart woman.” Kael said eyes locked on the strange anamoly ahead of them.

“What else do we know?” Tib asked.

“There’s a nearby uninhabited planet. It’s possible the strange chroniton activity could be having a spillover effect on it. Other than that, we’re the only ship for several grid squares.” Thorne said, after a quick glance at her station.

“Meaning, if we goof up, no one’s going to be around to help us. No safety nets, people. Which means we have to stick the landing the first time in everything we do. Got it?”

The bridge sounded off in a chorus of yes, sirs. Logging into the console on the captain’s chair arm rest, he studied the information coming in off the preliminary sensor scans conducted while they were out of system and still at warp. The computer was still collating most of the data, but there was enough to tell him most of what he needed to know.

“Okay, Mr. Vossk, let’s start with some sensor scans. Let’s get a better idea of what it is we’re looking at.”

The Saurian gave him an affirmative and went to his task. Making use of the three sensor pods affixed to the Rubidoux’s hull, the ship focused its data sweeps through both the onboard and external mounted hardware and then filed it through the ship’s computer. Every discernable detail capable of being scanned was fed through the ship at Vossk’s command. Under the saurian’s watchful gaze, he cataloged and filed all the relevant information around as though he were flipping through his grandmother’s cookbook.

“The first wave of scans is finished. The anomaly is artificial. Thus explaining it’s lack of presence before now. However, because of high concentrations of chroniton behaviour near the anomaly’s core, it’s difficult to determine an age. The depth of the anamoly appears to be several au in diameter. Also detecting some unusual tachyon and graviton activity inside.”

Tib leaned back, taking that all in. He wanted a closer look, but didn’t want to risk sending the ship any closer. He’d read of many reports of vessels being tangled up in whacky time shenanigans. A problem he had no interest in exposing his crew to. He turned to Jel’kan.

“Launch a probe. Full sensor packet suite. I want a closer look at what we’re dealing with.”

His tactical officer launched the probe and routed control and data feeds to Vossk’s console. As the Saurian assumed control of the remote sensor unit, his hands swept across his console skillfully. Navigating the initial powerful graviton eddies that kept the chronitons contained within the anomaly instead of spooling out and unraveling it.

“Everything appears to be generated, Captain. I can detect no natural cause for this level of so many exotic particles. Whatever is making this anomaly is not natural. Any more than that and the probes sensors are simple unable to say. The anomaly is constantly rewinding its scan.”

“Hypothetically, what kinds of practical uses would something like this have as a weapon?”

“The ability to trap your enemy into a looping time pocket would have great potential. However, given the size of the anomaly, there’s no guarantee of being able to escape to freedom from your own shot.”

He stood, striding to the center of the bridge. Folding his arms he studied the looping visual of the anamoly. “How far from it are we?”

Vossk studied his panel for a moment before clearing his throat. “Roughly one light hour.”

A picture formed in his mind’s eyes. “So based on what we’ve seen so far. We’ve got a warp interdiction device that can tear a ship out of warp speed and hurl it back into normal space time. And now we’ve got a unique chronal anomaly that would be virtually impossible to escape from.”

Jel’kan swallowed hard. “The ultimate alpha strike package. Snare your enemy and immobilize him and you have him at your mercy.”

“Sure, but what then? There’s gotta be an endgame. Something we’re missing.”

“It’s possible that piece of this puzzle will reveal itself in due time,” Vossk commented.

Tib frowned, stroking his beard again thoughtfully. “Let’s hope so. If they hit us with something like this, I have no idea how we’d react.”

Which meant the game had changed again. He sighed, wishing all this stolen technology would be recaptured or destroyed swiftly.