per aspera ad astra
-
Going forward, links to content from Twitter (now X) will no longer be embedded. Pre-existing links should not be affected.
Star Trek: Odyssey
- Thread starter Pineapple
- Start date
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 123
- Recent readers
- 0
- Threadmarks
- 11
-
Statistics (10 threadmarks, 18k words)
User Total Pineapple 10 Threadmarks Reader mode -
Loading…
Ep 1; Act 1
Pineapple
Punished Pineapple
- Location
- Passin' the kouchie 'pon the lef' hand side
- Pronouns
- She/They
STAR TREK:
Odyssey
Episode 1:
Act 1
Odyssey
Episode 1:
Act 1
Captain's log, August 1st, 2379.
Today marks the first true day of my command, and I find myself thinking back on all that has happened to bring our people to this place. I think of how far we've come in the last hundred years… and I'm filled with hope for how far we'll go in the next hundred.
***
I couldn't remember a time when I hadn't dreamed of this moment. I hadn't always thought it would be me; It was more of a happy accident than anything I'd planned, but the moment was upon me, and upon my people.
It was in my ready room, alongside the bridge of the ship, that I'd found myself staring into a computer screen for the dozenth hour in a row, when the door slid open.
"Status report?" I asked half-heartedly. Being awake for fifty-three hours was starting to catch up with me. Clearing space-dock would mean at least a few hours of calm, and a chance to catch up on much needed rest.
But I had to get there first.
"Trifluoride tanks are filled, those umbilicals are retracted. Engineering reports that the ship is off of shore power and the reactor is spun up at eighty percent, with one hundred percent available on demand," the ship's first officer explained with what could only be described as a smug grin.
I nodded absently, then slowly turned to face him. "Already? What about the crew, supplies?"
"About three hours ahead of schedule," he answered with a laugh. "I guess we're having better luck than we hoped for. Everyone's really pulled together on this."
I nodded again--that move was working so why change it?--and kept scrolling through the pages and pages of text on my console. Wait... "Three hours you say?"
He nodded, that self satisfied smirk I was exceedingly familiar with followed. Well, if he had a move that was working for him too I was going to be the one to judge. "Yes ma'am. All crew are present and accounted for. The ship stands ready."
I found myself grinning from ear to ear as I looked up to him, "I think one hundred years is long enough to wait. Signal the crew to prepare for departure."
No, that wouldn't do. I was the captain, right? I shook my head as I stood and walked for the door. "No, actually, I think I'll do that. Get us off on the right foot."
It felt good. Three hours early, but I'd been waiting my whole life, and everyone else a lot longer.
It was funny how three hours seemed longer than a lifetime when I was actually faced with it.
Nobody in hard soled shoes has the ability to move discretely and I was of course no exception and so the moment I stepped out on the bridge every eye was on me. Privately the attention and the responsibility made me nervous, possibly the most nervous out of all of us. I was responsible for this entire crew, this entire ship. But they were my crew, my ship.
And it was time to make that mean something.
"All-hands, this is Captain Orchai. I want to say I had a speech planned, but I never managed to get the words written down. I'll say this: we're standing at the edge of history. History that we are about to write, that we're going to be a part of.
"We've waited a century, and that's long enough. We're moving out now. Stop all resource transfers, jettison all clamps and external braces. Retract all boarding gantries and umbilicals. All hands to your stations and set condition yellow. Let's make history. Orchai out."
After a long tense moment, I finally let out the breathe I hadn't realized I'd been holding and sat down. "So, how was that?"
"Well Captain, since we're the first ones to do this... I would say that it stands above expectations." The first officer responded with a non-committal shrug. I wasn't surprised by the reaction, though I had hoped for something with a bit more substance.
"Thank you for your praise, Commander Serine." I half-muttered with a good-natured roll of my eyes.
"Well I liked it." The decidedly younger looking girl at the helm station added in a voice that sounded cheery but not artificially so. She'd been selected for personality as much as skill; if the crew could not get along, the crew could not function, no matter how talented they otherwise were.
"And I appreciate that Ensign Janein. But, we have history to make, so let's start making it. Take us out on thrusters only and signal main engineering to bring the reactor up to one hundred percent."
"Thrusters only, aye Captain."
I tapped a brief and well memorized sequence of commands into my chair console and the small display set into the opposite armrest switched to a remote view; the ship from the outside.
From the steel gray saucer section with impulse engines at the aft end, to the neck section housing torpedo launchers, to the cylindrical secondary hull and the two struts atop which engine nacelles rested it looked every bit like the ship that had fallen to the ground a century before.
Of course, I could remember the first time I'd sat in the chair and the first time I'd looked on the externals. The secondary hull was just a frame and the warp drive hadn't even been started yet. How far we'd come in just the last decade.
This was the first ship of her class, but she would not be the last.
The view followed as we cut a smooth silent path through the shipyards, each carrying a hull not too dissimilar from our own, though none had truly taken form yet. It would be another year at least before the next ship came off the line behind us.
"Captain, we're clear of the shipyards." The ensign sounded excited. Who wouldn't?
Someone not on my ship.
"Bring the warp engines online and open a channel to central," I ordered as I stood from the chair. I might not have been the tallest one on the bridge, but in that moment I was ten feet tall.
The forward viewer was replaced with the visage of an older woman in a black uniform with a matching cap not unlike those worn by me and my crew. She was smiling, though she seemed rather on the side of confused.
"Captain Orchai? You're not due out of dock for another three hours but it looks like you've been impatient. Ah well, I can understand the impulse. You know your mission so I won't keep you from it, other than to say... good luck, but I hope you won't need it."
I felt my face twist into a grin and I gave her a shrug, "Well it's like you said: I'm too impatient, Admiral Halae. You get the rest of the fleet ready and we'll have a map for you when you meet us out here."
"We're going to hold you to that, but I'll have to let you go first, won't I? Safe travels, Odyssey. Halae out."
The screen cut back to the field of stars laid out before us, stretching out into infinity. One of them would hold our destination, of that I held no doubt. The gift from the stars had come from somewhere and once we'd found it we would return a... token to its creators.
"Janein, I'm feeling... adventurous. Let's blow the dust out of the engines; engage at maximum warp!"
"Aye Captain!" the ensign yelled with the same unbridled excitement that I had chosen her for in the first place. If ever we needed a ship's mascot, she would be it. The white knuckled grip on the throttle betrayed a nervousness she was otherwise hiding, but that didn't slow her from throwing it forward to the lock in one smooth motion.
The lighting shifted in hue from white to blue as the low droning of the warp drive spooling up shifted into a higher pitch, shaking the deck under my feet for a moment before a sound like a whip crack cut through the air and the stars turned to a blur.
"Report?" I ordered as the ship finally settled out into a rhythm, the shaking having smoothed out into a gentle thrumming vibration. I found an appreciation for it; a ship should feel like it's moving.
"Warp field is stable within point oh oh four of spec. Speed constant at warp six point eight. Deflector is synchronized and reactor output is steady. Endurance calculation shows forty eight hours." The man standing at the engineering console near the lift at the aft end of the bridge announced.
"Not as good as I was hoping for. Well, we knew we weren't getting there in one shot. Thank you Quinn. See if you can get us a few more hours out of that, but let's hope we won't need them."
Refueling this early on wasn't something I'd wanted to have to do, but some things couldn't be helped. The engineers could work out the efficiency problems later, or we could slow down. For now warp six point eight was faster than I'd expected. It would be fine.
At least until we completed our mission and, hopefully, energy production would no longer be a concern."Janein, keep your eyes on long range sensors. We're going to want to keep topped up so call it out if we come across any J or T class planets."
"Aye, Ma'am."
***
Black marble was an extravagance but it was one that her position afforded her and it was therefore one that she took. The largest office in the facility and on the highest floor as well, it was a prestigious location but it also meant she wouldn't have anyone sneaking up on her.
Admiral of a fleet that hadn't left its home system, but an admiral nevertheless. Odyssey was going to change that for them, the ships that left after her would further cement the importance of her position.
The importance of holding onto what they had until Odyssey's secondary mission bore fruit. Power was more important than it had ever been, both political power and actual energy. One hundred years of unrestrained progress had devastated their energy reserves.
If they had to go back to the ways before, they would survive it as a species, but any given citizen--
The buzzing in her pocket drew her attention away from the thoughts running through her head and a moment later the communicator was pressed against the side of her head. "This is Halae."
"This is Jerrin. Ma'am, there was an explosion at space-dock a few minutes after Odyssey left the system. It looks like someone sabotaged the fuel transfer pumps. If she'd still been attached the whole ship would have gone up like a supernova."
"Clean it up and find out who did it. Keep this quiet and don't let Captain Orchai find out. When you find out who did this learn everything you can. For this incident I am suspending second protocol. Is that understood?" Her voice had the sharp angry hiss of a pit viper and the strength of her grip nearly cracked the screen on her communicator.
She did not readily suffer traitors or fools.
"I'll get it done, off-book. I'll have more information by week's end. Jerrin, out."
Off book. That was one way to put it. It was how she'd wanted it anyway. If there were any questions about his actions she could disavow him, let him be the one caught holding the bag. If she had to suspend second protocol to preserve first protocol she'd do it, as many times as it took.
One did not attain the rank of Admiral entirely through following the rules, rather through the selective application of them to achieve results. It was through anticipating and preventing the actions of the opposition faction.
This problem would be behind her soon enough, like so many problems before.
***
The transition out of warp was rougher than I'd wanted it to be but that was something that would get dialed in with practice. The viewer powered back on to display the system we'd stopped in. There was a faint red star floating off in the distance and a ring of rocky debris around it, but much closer to the ship.
"Not exactly what I expected." Janein commented with a frown as she checked over her console.
"Most of space is either empty or like this. Life-bearing worlds are incredibly rare. Our first stop was certain not to be a glamorous one," I answered with a hint of a chuckle.
"It's still a little anticlimactic," the ensign complained with a pout.
I fought to keep the smile off my face. That was how the young would be, adventurous and disappointed when reality didn't quite live up to expectations. It was those minds that we needed on a mission like this, but there would still be little unprofessional-isms as a result.
It was the cost of doing business and it was a cost I was willing to pay.
"There are a lot of ways that it could have been exciting and most of them are unpleasant. Let's try not to tempt fate too much. What do we have on sensors?" I asked as I stood from my chair and walked closer to the forward screen.
"Scanning... Looks like a red dwarf star and a debris belt and... It looks like there's a gas giant on the far side of the star." The first officer answered from the science station to the side of the view screen.
"Composition of the debris belt? Is there anything we can use there?"
"The computer is still crunching the numbers, but it looks like a small terrestrial world was torn apart by tidal forces generated by the gas giant. I'm picking up iron, nickel, and gold deposits. Nothing we have a particular need for at the moment." Serine replied with a shrug.
"Fair enough. Alright we're going to hit the gas giant and then resume warp once we top off the tanks. Set condition blue, ready the ramscoops, and take us in at one quarter impulse."
"One quarter impulse, aye." Janein replied as her fingers danced across the console. The thrumming in the deck increased in frequency as the ship's reactor throttled up and the impulse engines chugged to life.
"Ensign?" I questioned as the ship lurched forward, despite the inertial dampeners.
"Reactor was on soft-standby after we dropped out of warp, just took a second to stabilize on throttle up."
I shook my head, now would be a good of a time as any to close my eyes for a few minutes while i had the chance. "Well, uh, knock it off. Actually, that's something we should probably take up with the engineering division once we have some downtime. I'll be in my ready room should something develop that needs my attention. Serine, you have the bridge."
DocMatoi
Theoretical Lover of Girls
- Location
- within 2 hours of the White House
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I love her
hell yes its a ship of space nerds out on their way to go exploring
And here we have our goal, and....
...our motivation. So the people pushed and pushed at the boundaries of technology and found energy to be their ball and chain, huh? What do they hope to find out in the Black?
But of course, no adventure is complete without the intrigue. The Protocols, whatever they are, sound like they get obeyed to the letter and spirit about as often as the Prime Directive
I'm really excited to read more of both the Odyssey's travels and the news from their homefront, @Jackie. This promises to be another home run fic.
Last edited:
2379, so just after Voyager. Do you have any pictures of how the ship looks like? Or is that description for later chapters?
Pineapple
Punished Pineapple
- Location
- Passin' the kouchie 'pon the lef' hand side
- Pronouns
- She/They
It follows the general profile of a constitution refit class ship, though it is not one.
- Location
- Infraspace
So this one was a Connie refit, then... hmm.
johnwedd
Above Average man
- Location
- usa
Civilisation finds technology that would make issues like energy and space travel a thing of the past. Said society runs themselves into the ground to try and achieve said utopia forcing them in an all o r nothing situation. Odysseus is this the ship to make it break the utopia they know exists. Political villainy and space shenanigans ensue.
- Location
- Elsewhere
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This is a very strong start and I love it a lot. Without further context I'm afraid I've been getting very strong Homeworld vibes from this. A pre space travel society finds and unites around a star ship wreck, investigates it and uses the discoveries to scientifically leap ahead and reshape their society. This has as many downsides as it has upsides, the first ships they build ruin them as much as it is their bright future.
So when this happens
I was genuinely quite afraid for a few moments that we were going to have a very badly written Kharak Is Burning situation on our hands. Good thing that was completely unfounded.
Looking forward to where this is going a lot.
Now, up front we have a few thousands words of story and its busy establishing a lot of things. So all of this could be completely invalidated or re-contextualized very easily. But lets put some facts together.
This is a rebuilt/reverse engineered/Kushan'd Constitution-Refit Federation starship. It mostly generates power through the classical Federation warp engine, which is an advanced form of matter antimatter reactor that mediates this reaction through dilithium crystals. Such a ship can keep traveling for weeks or months ( its never really elaborated upon I think ). This is not at all the only viable way to generate power in Star Trek, but its the one the Federation uses often, especially in star ships.
Sidebar: The name Warp Drive is awkwardly overloaded referring in general both to the thing that generates a lot of power and the thing that lets a starship achieve warp speeds, because on a starship they are the same integrated system.
But the only power generation or fuel resource we hear mention is Trifluoride, in tanks. I'm not going to speculate on the specific kind because memes but that's the fuel we know about. And the Odessey manages only 48 hours, with a hope of improvements from there of warp speed. That is a few orders of magnitude off the power the ship its based on has available.
So we have a society that has bootstrapped their way to space flight on a crashed starfleet ship. This society has noted power problems. Their one starship doesn't power itself on the old warp core from the crashed original ship. Its probably safe to say they are looking for at least more dilithium crystals. This would enable them to build new warp engines. And probably also a reliable source of antimatter, as fuel.
What happened to the original drive ? Rendered useless ? Already committed to generating planetary power ? Installed in the space dock ?
Sadly for them dilithium crystals are one of the few rare resources in the galaxy, quite valuable and highly contested. Oh no.
Pineapple
Punished Pineapple
- Location
- Passin' the kouchie 'pon the lef' hand side
- Pronouns
- She/They
That's not their reactor fuel
edit: honestly this isn't a spoiler. Note that they were going to ramscoop a gas giant for fuel.
They're using a helium 3 fusion reactor.
Last edited:
- Location
- The Midlands.
Well, no. In the mercifully hypothetical event of it being used in rocketry it would be considered an oxidiser, not a fuel as such.
Seriously, though, I figured it was being used for sublight propulsion because they don't have fusion torches (or whatever the hell an "impulse engine" actually is) reverse-engineered sufficiently for mass production yet.
Seriously, though, I figured it was being used for sublight propulsion because they don't have fusion torches (or whatever the hell an "impulse engine" actually is) reverse-engineered sufficiently for mass production yet.
Pineapple
Punished Pineapple
- Location
- Passin' the kouchie 'pon the lef' hand side
- Pronouns
- She/They
Impulse engines are actually a reactionless drive, they're not a fusion torch.
Impulse engines are basically what the EM Drive was supposed to be.
- Location
- Reading, Berks, UK
Chlorine Triflouride is sufficiently exciting that choosing to use it given any alternative suggests desperation. Or Kerbals.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Holy shit hot damn I am excited.
And they did it in a hundred years.
Its definitely is along the same line of philosophy Picard held.
I wonder how much of the culture and religion of Orchai's people have been bent to this quest they are setting out on.
I wonder how these wonderful little space nerds will interact with any of the famous species of Star Trek and which Quadrant they are in because that might change a lot of this little opening escapade.
So on the first read this can look like the normal captain's log for a normal Feddie captain, with some details like the time references which are off. But, well there's what comes next.
Others have noted the Fun of Triflouride compounds so I won't touch those, but this is also a nice little introduction to our Captain and an interesting notation about "her people" and fifty-three hours of no sleep which are interesting.
Niiice.
So yeah, history like this is really really interesting. As others have noted they got a ship crashing a century ago and then popped this ship out and this quote:
Is put in the context that this alien species has completely adopted Star Fleet dating, honorifics, ranks, titles and ship crew organization. That implies a massive amount of cultural change bent towards emulating Star Fleet.
And they did it in a hundred years.
That sounds like a quote from TNG though I'm not sure.
Its definitely is along the same line of philosophy Picard held.
So they built Odyssey in something more than ten years.
But all the next ones that are just starting will take at least another year. Taking lots of lessons from constructing Odyssey then, which makes sense.
And that's seeking out Earth to find the Federation.
I wonder how much of the culture and religion of Orchai's people have been bent to this quest they are setting out on.
Heh good ole warp transition. But they're not running on usual spec, as Jackie said running off Nuclear fusion. Its a TOS ship design, and they can achieve the speeds of the Constitution but their energy method to do that is not efficient at all by comparison.
I imagine a future plot point will them being stuck with low fuel.
And then there's the complicated bit which others have noted of Oh Fuck The Energy Crisis.
I wonder what these Protocols are. In context they sound a bit like Vulcans and Surrak's teachings, but we'll see more I'm sure.
Heh.
Fun! I wonder if the ramscoops are part of the deflector or something separate. I can't recall if the original Constitution Refit had ramscoops.
I wonder how these wonderful little space nerds will interact with any of the famous species of Star Trek and which Quadrant they are in because that might change a lot of this little opening escapade.
Ep 1; Act 2
Pineapple
Punished Pineapple
- Location
- Passin' the kouchie 'pon the lef' hand side
- Pronouns
- She/They
Act 2:
The sound of clicking finger joints brought my eyes back into focus, and then up to Serine's frowning face. "Yes?"
"You were sleeping with your eyes open again. It's very unsettling," he answered as I watched him work the joints in his right hand.
I shrugged as I cracked the joints in my neck, "It got me through command school. What brings you to my ready room?" It had probably been two hours since I'd left the bridge, if the night-time lighting was anything to go by.
"I thought you might like to know, the engineering division ran an analysis on some outliers we picked up during the gas scoop." He explained, without really explaining anything.
"And during that analysis we discovered..." I prompted with an unamused look across my desk.
"Hydrazine." He answered and dropped a data tablet on my desk.
I snatched up the tablet and flicked through the chemical analysis. Hydrogen, helium, methane, acetylene, and hydrazine. "Any algae blooms detected on sensors?"
"Negative, and no biological compounds were found in the collection funnels. That leaves one real option, barring some unforeseen chemistry we don't understand of course." He answered with a smirk.
"Thrusters! We're not the first ones here?"
"That is what it looks like."
"Well wake everyone up, things just got fun."
***
A hot cup of synthetic coffee (not that we could even grow the real kind) warmed my hand as I sat again in the captain's chair. It wasn't a full night's sleep, but like a hot meal, one should never pass up a chance at sleep, no matter how brief.
"So, who wants to be the first to tell me what we know?" I asked to the similarly half-awake bridge crew, assembled at their stations. Janein at helm, as expected, my first officer at the science station and of course Quinn at the back of the bridge at the engineering/tactical station.
"Hydrazine!" Quinn ejaculated suddenly from behind me. "We shut down the gravity plating below C deck and used the surplus energy to put a little more oomph into the sensors--"
"While we're young..." I teased as I turned around in my chair with a half smile at the younger engineer.
"Right, sorry. So, long story short, someone threw a warp core into this gas giant and it subsequently exploded. At least, that's the working theory based on the original Starfleet database. Hydrazine thrusters propelled something deep into the gas giant's mantle and then there was an antimatter pair-annihilation event." He explained while his black-gloved hands gesticulated wildly around in the air in front of him.
Well, maybe he was a little too exuberant, but he knew warp engines better than anyone else alive.
"Do we know how long ago? Assuming it was a warp core is there any chance the starship that lost it is still in the area?" I asked as I considered the more tactical implications of such a situation.
"I'm afraid we don't know. Our sensors aren't quite as precise as the uh, Original's. We haven't detected any hull or energy signatures within two lightyears though so either they're not out there or we're in over our heads." He explained again before he stopped and stepped past his station to stand up on the elevated platform my chair sat upon.
He was looking past me and out at the blue gas giant in front of the viewer, as if lost in thought. "Although… I was working on a few efficiency upgrades for the engines, after we collected data during that first sprint. I think I can get us up to warp seven and hold onto that for at least six days between refuelings if we run the reactor in a scavenger/recycle mode, using the free proton--"
"Quinn." I projected with all of the energy in me.
"Right, sorry Captain. Long story short, in tests I noticed that the warp drive modifications cause us to emit high energy subspace waves right before the drive discharges into the warp coils, right before the ship accelerates past light speed. Theoretically if we do a last-moment emergency shutdown of the warp engines, right before the jump, the system will shunt all of that built up energy through the main deflector array and… and..." he gesticulated, he seemed short of breathe, over excited. Aberrants could be like that. A hundred years ago…
Serine stepped away from his console and approached the Captain's chair and snapped his finger joints, "Like a sonar pulse. The subspace shockwave will resonate and let us map out all of the baryonic matter within a few lightyears."
Quinn pointed excitedly, "Yes, exactly! This will let us know if there are any vessels in the region, but more importantly this will allow us to map gravity wells and stellar anomalies as well. I can't recommend doing this very often; it will be very taxing on the power grid, but I think just this once shouldn't be a problem."
"Well, I'm glad we've got such bright minds on my ship!" I said as I stood up and clapped Quinn on the back. "You two can handle the modifications for this project I assume?"
"Yes Ma'am!" Quinn answered with a nod.
"We'll get right to it," Serine added as he gestured towards the turbolift at the aft end of the bridge.
"Janein, I believe that it would also be prudent to power on and bring our defensive and offensive systems to standby status," I said to the girl at the helm.
She seemed to consider it for a second before nodding, "Of course, I'll get right on that. I'll send the authorization codes for non-nuclear ordnance down to the weaponry crews."
I nodded to her and then leaned back in my chair. Hopefully it wouldn't come to a fight this early in our journey, but that possibility was always there. I could only hope that our first contact with another race would be a peaceful one.
***
Jerrin swore and rubbed his cheek with his left hand while he shook his right, waiting for his finger joints to unlock. That wouldn't happen until he had calmed down, of course. Epinephrine was a hell of a drug, as they said.
The little rivulets of blood rolling down past the tips of his fingers left a waving back and forth pattern on the iron plated floor. His eyes turned back to the corpse that lay on the floor in the corner of the room. She'd slipped her restraints during the interrogation, came after him.
Of course she had, she knew what the punishment was, what it always was. She fought like hell, but she hadn't fought like him, and that's why she lost. He gave one last look before shaking his head and turning away.
One final flick of his right wrist and his finger joints unlocked with a loud snap and he clenched his hand into a fist a few times to work the stiffness out. It had been a while since he'd had to do it the old fashioned way, but he was pleased to see that the lack of practice hadn't dulled him.
He plucked his communicator out of his pocket with his left hand and flicked it open against his cheek. "Halae." he said simply, and then waited.
A soft buzzing sound played back through the speaker for a moment before a voice answered on the far end of the line, "Jerrin, you have news? This late in the evening you'd better."
"I do but it's not good news. I captured a repentance cultist but she forced me to protocol one her. She was an aberrant."
"Burn the body. Bury this completely. The official report will read that it was a pressure valve malfunction."
"Yes Ma'am."
***
Captain's log, supplemental.
We are preparing a 'sensor burst' of sorts, Quinn assures me that this will help us map this part of the sector. While I have no doubt in his abilities, I do admit some reservations about this experiment. Nevertheless, we are out here to do new things, so new things we shall do.
I found myself once again on the bridge, slumped forward in my chair with my hat laying against my armrest with my gloves inside of it, and a strand of my hair just barely avoiding a dip into my synthetic coffee. Sixteen hours. It took them sixteen hours. If I had know, oh if I had known…
Which is why they didn't tell me, naturally. Far better to ask for forgiveness than permission, at least that was Serine's justification. Quinn probably hadn't even considered how long it would take. His attention to detail was impeccable, but only when it was something that could hold his interest, and punctuality was not terribly interesting to him.
The turbolift doors opened behind me and I turned to look at them, momentarily dragging just the tip of my hair through the coffee before I locked eyes with Serine. I didn't need to tell him how I was feeling, it was written all over my face.
On his, however, was a smile. "Captain! We're ready to go with the test, on your command of course."
I scratched along my hairline as I contemplated my response, the level of sarcasm I would use. With my gloves and hat off I was afforded the rare luxury of being able to scratch the tender skin at the base of my obsidian--
"Captain, sensors are registering an inbound warp signature, contact in three seconds!" Janein yelled from her station.
"Guess we didn't need to run that scan after all. Red alert, polarize the hull plating and bring targeting scanners online. Secure non-essential systems and divert power to the impulse engin--"
I had only half finished my order when the first ship came out of warp in front of us, followed by a second. The second ship was the larger of the two, almost avian in design. I had no idea what class or species of ship, but--
But that lead ship, that I recognized. Two nacelles, a square body, a long range shuttle, or at least a version of one. Still, the delta insignia along the side of the hull was more than enough of a hint. "Huh, I guess this trip was a little anticlimactic if they've already found us."
"Captain the pursing ship is charging weapons!"
It wasn't in any of the training I'd gone through. An argument could have been made that it was the wrong call to make, a violation of the protocols. But I knew what I was going to do, what I demanded of myself.
I had to do what felt right.
"Ensign, all ahead full! Lay in an intercept course, I want you to put us between those two ships and keep us there no matter what. Commander Serine, get on the tactical console and bring the weapons online. We are enforcing protocols one and three. That shuttle does not get shot down!"
I felt the epinephrine coursing through my veins and I gripped the railing in front of my seat as I stood, "This is Orchai to Security and Medical divisions. Prepare the shuttlebay for an emergency landing and stand by to assist the wounded. To all hands, we are engaging in combat under protocols one and three, I accept this responsibility as my own."
The ship lurched but this time out of urgency rather than inelegance, the impulse engines felt like they were roaring through the deck plates as Janein threw the ship through a set of twisting maneuvers that I wouldn't have thought such a large ship was capable of if I hadn't seen it myself.
In the screen I watched the shuttle try to evade as the trailing ship fired a blast that severed the starboard warp nacelle from the shuttle. I felt my lips curl back as I thrust my right hand towards the viewscreen, finger joints locked straight. "Fire!"
The deck jumped under me as the upper forward and starboard cannon arrays fired their hypervelocity kinetic penetrators. The four tracers lanced out towards the ship, with two shots missing left and one bouncing off the ship's shields, with the fourth shot punching through and embedding itself in their starboard cannon.
"Shields!" I yelled as I kicked the deck. That complicated things. We'd hoped that that particular technology wasn't widespread, as we hadn't been able to replicate it with the power we were able to generate.
"Captain, should we authorize--"
I nodded and stabbed my finger down on a button on my armrest console, "Authorization code Orchai Delta Seven X-ray, nuclear authorization confirm."
"Code accepted" the computer chirped, "First officer's authorization required."
"Serine Zeta Zero Six, nuclear authorization confirm." He replied without hesitation. Whether his willingness to let me get away with this so easily was a good thing or a bad thing still remained to be seen.
"Nuclear authorization confirmed. Nuclear weapon release is authorized." The computer intoned as Serine fired another minimally effective volley from our conventional cannons.
"Janein, send authorization down to the armory!"
"Yes Ma'am. Armory confirms code receipt, weapons loading in progress, five seconds to ready."
If I was wrong I'd hang until my legs stopped kicking, but I wasn't wrong. Not about this.
I watched Serine's console out of the corner of my eye as the indicator toggled to green and turned back towards the viewscreen. "Fire torpedos, full spread!"
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Oh boy oh boy stuff just got complicated.
On introduction this joint clicking thing sounds like a personal quirk thing but...
Looks like its biological. Given its stress response I wonder if its an attack response specifically or not. It kinda sounds like they're meant to be used as weapons.
Aberrant? Strange. It clearly doesn't really have to do with emotions, exactly, because the view point characters presented so far have emotions.
I guess protocol one has to do with violence against other beings? Also I wonder what a repentance cultist is?
Pineapple
Punished Pineapple
- Location
- Passin' the kouchie 'pon the lef' hand side
- Pronouns
- She/They
It's a catch all term for members of their species who have certain atypical mental responses. The way they process excitement or regret or grief is different from the population at large.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Mhmm, that was kinda what I was figuring but wasn't sure how to word it.
It also implies an interesting sort of uniformity in scale of response for them to certain things which has existed for a long time, over a century, and is a cultural ingrained idea.
E: Or at least they have a cultural idea of that uniformity, even if it doesn't precisely exist.
Last edited:
Awesome, it's a combination of my two favorite franchises Star Trek and Homeworld!
I mean, rocket propellant doesn't really do it for me but if that's what you're into Quinn...
I mean, rocket propellant doesn't really do it for me but if that's what you're into Quinn...
Pineapple
Punished Pineapple
- Location
- Passin' the kouchie 'pon the lef' hand side
- Pronouns
- She/They
Orchai could write an entire book about Quinn's spontaneous ejaculations.
Tranquil Zebra
Equid of Peerless Tranquility
- Location
- Norway
So, the pursuer was a ship with an avian design. My mind immediately goes to a warbird, but I don't really see kinetic weapons or nukes doing diddly squat to Romulan deflectors. I guess many ships are vaguely avian, though.
I wonder if some Feddie asshole will get a wild hair up their ass about this new Starfleet imitator being built upon a breach of the prime directive, though. Then again, the cat's out of the bag, and I think temporal operatives would like a word with you if you tried to stuff it back in again.
I wonder if some Feddie asshole will get a wild hair up their ass about this new Starfleet imitator being built upon a breach of the prime directive, though. Then again, the cat's out of the bag, and I think temporal operatives would like a word with you if you tried to stuff it back in again.
JennyDracos
Eccentric Hugging Lady
- Location
- Chicago
Well, the Oddysey is based on a Constitution class, which means that the Romulans (a 'new' threat during the TOS era) wouldn't necessarily be in the library files they have access to. On the other hand, it's a big galaxy and 'avian' is pretty broad.
Nukes might be little more than fancy flashbulbs but the thermal effects, electromagnetic effects, and ionizing radiation aren't anything to scoff at.