September 2007 - Post Selection

ON : Mission Start - Into The Void

Day: 1
Time: 06.59
Scene: USS Dark Matter Bridge

Captain Lars Persson glanced around the bridge as he noted the time on the chrono. Everyone was in their respective positions and the ship was ready to leave Starbase Dyerma IV. The sound of voices came through over the comm. A link was then made with the Dyermian science vessel, Red Shift.

"Lt Lomax(npc), open a channel to Captain Aran(npc)." He ordered as he tried to get more comfortable in his chair.

"Channel open, Captain." Kriss replied almost immediately.

"Captain Aran, we are ready to depart the Starbase. Set your course for Aquavona II." Lars informed the Dyermian.

+"We are ready, just give the order and we will follow."+ The Captain replied somewhat cynically.

"Ready when you are, number one, let's be on our way."

Claryx shifted in her seat and then began a sequence of orders to the bridge crew. "Release umbilicals. Disengage mooring clamps. Prepare to go to one quarter impulse on my mark, mister Gradd(npc). Engineering, do we have warp capability?" She asked Lt (jg) Erz Finh who was sat at the bridge station.

"We do, Cmdr." Erz(npc) responded quickly after checking his console and the CEO's link.

"Very well then, take us out of dock, mister Gradd, forward thrusters, steady as she goes." Claryx said as the ship began to drift slightly following the release of the mooring clamps.

Slowly, but surely, the helmsman manoeuvred the sleek form of the USS Dark Matter utilizing the ship's thrusters as she began to edge her way forward towards the huge bay doors, which were now completing their final opening sequence to reveal the broad expanse of space and a sea of stars. Two minutes later, the ship was in a position to go to impulse.

"One Quarter impulse, mister Gradd, set course 242 by 004 for Aquavona II, make ready to go to warp seven." Claryx informed him. "Anything on our scanners, Cmdr Gol'Khar?" She asked the Chief who was sat at the science station.

Cmdr Gol'Khar didn't take his eyes away from the forward scanning monitor as he made his reply. "The course ahead is clear. There is nothing to impede our progress, Cmdr."

As the DM began to move away from the giant Starbase, it began to pick up speed leaving it and Dyerma III behind and out of harm's way when they engaged the warp engines.

Lars settled down to contemplate the journey ahead. There wasn't anything that would offer a clue as to what had happened to all of those ships that had, for all intents and purposes, simply disappeared. Hopefully, the journey towards Aquavona II may just provide the answers he was seeking. "Is the science vessel still with us?" Lars enquired of Claryx.

"Indeed they are, Captain." She told him as she glanced down at the small console on the arm of her chair.

"Inform them that they're to go to warp seven, number one."

The signal to jump to warp was sent to the Red Shift mere seconds before Claryx gave the order to Lt (jg) Gradd. "Warp seven, mister Gradd... engage." She ordered the young helmsman who was busy watching the readings on his console.

Stars seemingly streaked by as both ships jumped to warp speed. The journey to Aquavona II would take them approximately three days, although the area where the vessels had gone missing was closer at just a little over thirty hours away. This would allow them more than enough time to think about what maybe out there, a cloaked ship perhaps? Regardless, it had to have a considerable amount of power at its disposal, since so many ships had fallen prey to whatever it had been, and certainly enough to cause them to vanish in a burst of intense light, accompanied by high levels of gamma radiation. This alone had been puzzling to Lars, in fact he was inclined to dismiss it as being the result of having been taken by a cloaked vessel of some sort, and this was simply based on the available information alone.

"Cmdr Gol'Khar, prepare a long range probe to search the target area." Lars ordered the scientist. "I want to know what caused this burst of gamma radiation before we get there." He added.

"Right away, Captain." He replied as he got up from his chair to leave the bridge. Angus eagerly took over his Chief's position at the main science station until his return.

During the following hours, the crew of both ships went about their cycle of duties as they sped on their way through space. The DM science department launched one of its probes and although it wasn't long before it reached its destination, the resulting telemetry was altogether rather disappointing. The data proved negative, and in fact, there was no trace of any of the merchant vessels ever having been there. The probe's scans indicated a complete lack of debris of any sort, which in itself was a surprise to everyone. Rather than to recall the probe, Lars had instructed Lt Cmdr Gol'Khar to continue scanning the entire region until the DM eventually arrived on the scene.

Day: 2 Time: 13.15 Scene: Area of missing ships.
Lars experienced growing concern for what he was attempting to do, and there wasn't a thing he felt he could do to change things. Reports from the science department were continually showing data that offered negative results. They had even attempted to plot the precise source of the gamma radiation, again coming up empty-handed. It was proving to be worse than searching for a needle in a haystack, especially when the area in question was so vast. The Dyermian vessel, Red Shift, had also failed to find any clues to the missing ships. The trouble with finding absolutely nothing at all, was that as Captain, Lars could not continue to waste valuable time searching for ghosts. He had a specific mission to carry out, and in failing to locate any sign of the missing ships, he knew that he must now move on and continue the journey to Aquavona II.

Lars turned to address the Counsellor, Lt Cmdr Tyvek, but then merely looked at him without actually saying anything for a moment.

"It appears that if there was anything out here, it is certainly no longer present, Captain." Tyvek said as he gazed at the forward viewscreen. "I believe that it serves no purpose to remain here any longer. If we have overlooked something, then there is a possibility that we may locate it on our return." He suggested.

"I agree Cmdr, I believe that it is our only option at this time. Helmsman, made ready to lay in a course to take us to Aquavona II. Lomax, inform the Red Shift of our actions and ask them to be prepared to follow us."

"Aye, aye, Captain." Gradd replied. "Course plotted and laid in." He added cheerfully.

"Message sent and received, Sir." Kriss said from her station as she listened to the other ship's response.

The Dark Matter suddenly went to warp speed as the Red Shift followed hot on her tail. Mere seconds later, something entirely unexpected happened. The bridge was filled with a blinding light and every single member of the crew experienced a wave of intense nausea flooding over them. Lars fought to remain conscious as he suddenly felt that he was going to black out.

The overall experience was fortunately quite brief. When Lars became aware of his surroundings again, the ship was, for some reason no longer travelling at warp, in fact it was now completely motionless. A couple of the members of the bridge crew were being attended to by someone from Sickbay, since they had been rendered unconscious. On instinct he turned to address Gol'Khar. "What happened and where on earth are we?"

Nodding his head violently from side to side in order to clear his muddle brain, Gol'Khar quickly checked the data on his console. "I cannot yet explain what happened, but I can tell you that we are no longer where we were moments ago. According to what's out there," he indicated by looking at the view screen. "I find that I am unable to match any of those stars with our charts, in fact I would suggest that we could be just about anywhere, Captain." He said at first, then on checking through the data recorded through the scans he had been making at the time of the incident. "If my data is correct, we have entered some kind of rift or tear in space, but even so, there is absolutely no sign of the opening. I would suggest that according to the amount of data we retrieved, we are hundreds of parsecs from our original point of entry." He explained at length. "I guess that we're lost, Sir."

OFF :

Captain Lars Persson
CO
USS Dark Matter