Mission Through The Looking Glass

[BB-4001X]

DCS INTELLEC
in port Lunar Station, orbit of Danton VI

[ post theme ]​

"Supply-01, please report to Cargo Bay Twelve for receiving. Supply-01, please re..."

In theory, this was going to be a short trip.

Confirm that they'd arrived in a different galaxy. Make contact with one of the Ba'Land anchors. And then conduct an initial survey.

On paper, it was a simple enough excursion. The anticipated time out and back was estimated at three or four months. Even if they found something worth investing a longer survey in, until they had precise enough information on calculating the dimensional jump, they couldn't assume that they'd be able to successfully return to the same location on the other side.

And, of course, there were a number of assumptions that were being made. They assumed that they'd be able to make contact with Ba'Land, for example. Which could potentially open up the Chiaki Network as an alternative means for returning home. But the small droid wasn't going to rely on assumptions, and so the first order he'd given was to bring aboard enough stores and consumables to last a year, if necessary.

He'd rather be overprepared than under.

It was a sentiment that the Cooperative appeared to agree with him on, which was how he'd gotten a job that he hadn't asked for.

"Prepare to bring the mains online."

An astromech wheeled over toward the similarly sized, afro headed droid. Giving a nod at a series of clicks and whistles, the droid responded, "Bring the mains online."

For the Solaris and... whatever they decided to call the third... the Cooperative had been trying to recruit experienced organics to fill the command position. But for the first expedition, it wanted a droid in command. But, that came with its own list of prerequisites. They had to be a Type-4 droid with combat programming. They had to have experience with logistics. And they needed an understanding of astrogation.

Which apparently put a short droid on a short list.

"Solar Ionization Reactor initialized. Power output stable, now at twelve percent..."

A yeoman came over with a datapad. Perusing it, the droid made the appropriate entries for the deck log regarding the start-up of the ship's power core. Signing the log, the droid passed it back to the yeoman and remarked, "Inform Lunar Station that we'll be departing shortly."

As the yeoman departed, the afro bot glanced out the large, transparisteel window that dominated one side of the bridge.

"Any guesses on what we'll find on the other side?"

Aiden Porte
LFG Here (Still Open)​

 

[Aiden Porte]

DSC Intellec
Lunar Station

Aiden couldn't honestly hold back his excitement. The Jedi Padawan dressed in his regular attire as he left his room aboard the Starship Intellec. He had volunteered to be part of an crew to travel the to perhaps an unknown galaxy. He knew that in the event that this venture ended quickly due to some unknown anomaly....that his life would be over.

So the fact that he was so excited about this raised some questions. Perhaps he completely disregarded the part about dying and just heard adventure.

"Any guesses on what we'll find on the other side?"

As Aiden made his way to his location he arrive just as words were spoken by BB-4001X

"Who knows?" Aiden said with a small smile as he looked out the window. "But that's the adventure though. What about you?"

 

[BB-4001X]

Aiden Porte

The be honest, the fact that they had a Jedi along was reassuring for the droid.

There were facets of reality that defied the orderly manner. A random variable that no droid could account for, which organics termed the Force. Having a Jedi who could perceive potentially invisible or intangible aspects of where they were going was an invaluable resource.

"My logic processors are still having a difficult time trying to process that other dimensions even exist," the small droid admitted dryly. That much was an understatement. What Matsu Ike had shown them defied the physical model of the universe as science had long understood it.

"Captain, umbilical supports have been retracted and docking clamps released," the operations officer announced from one side of the bridge. "We are now free to maneuver."

"Helm, set course zero-one-eight mark three. One-quarter sublight," the small droid ordered neatly, his astromech chipset feeding him the coordinates in less than a second. "Take us about ten thousand kilometers away from Lunar Station."

Walking back a few steps, the droid tapped a comm panel as he announced, "Engineering, Bridge, bring the Saotome drive online." Half-listening for the acknowledgement, the droid was already looking over at the navigator as he added, "Start your calculations for dimensional jump."

A dull alarm echoed through the ship as the announcement broke out.

"Black Alert. All stations, prepare for dimensional jump. Repeat: Black Alert. All stations, prepare for..."

From the helm, a voice announced, "Now ten thousand kilometers from Lunar Station, sir."

"Hold here," the small droid ordered.

"Frequency attenuation identified," the navigator announced. A few moments later, a second followed. "Coordinates locked in. We are ready to jump."

Looking around at the assembled crew of droids and organics, the afro-bot contemplated the unique situation that they were presently in. "Were I human, I imagine I would have something inspirational to say," the small droid began. "But as that is not in my programming, I'll simply offer... hold on to your butts."

With that, the droid ordered, "Engage."

He was familiar with making the jump to lightspeed. The build up as the hyperdrive spun up and the slight lurch forward that no inertial dampener could sufficiently mask.

This was nothing like that. If anything, it felt as though the ship went sideways. Or even upside down. He realized numbly that his gyro-stabilizer had gone off-line, no longer certain of what direction was up or down as it seemed as though everything just blinked out.

He came to on the floor.

Picking himself up, the droid called out, "Status report."

The analyst droid at the operations station was similarly picking itself up. "Reports just starting to come in now, sir," the droid reported, before adding, "Engineering reports that the Saotome drive has shut down. Stellar Cartography reports no known constellations or astronomical objects in com-scan range. At current time, we are unable to identify an exact location."

"So we know we're no longer in the Trebodar System, if nothing else."

"Confirmed. No communication from Lunar Station or Unimatrix Zero," the operations officer announced.

"The adventure begins..." the afro-bot quipped dryly. A passing reference to the Jedi's earlier statement. Glancing around the bridge, the small droid said, "My internal diagnostics indicate that my systems were off-line for approximately point-seven seconds."

"Mine as well," the analyst droid reported. "Reports are coming in from all decks of droids experiencing similar disruption in function."

"What about organics?" the droid asked, his attention shifting over to Aiden as he asked, "Any ill effects?"

Matsu hadn't said anything about a minor disruption. It was possible organics weren't affected. Which could also extend to the biots that Sasori used in place of traditional droids.

 

[Aiden Porte]

"Were I human, I imagine I would have something inspirational to say,"

"But as that is not in my programming, I'll simply offer... hold on to your butts."

"Engage."

"I'm not the inspirational speaker either." Aiden said with a small laugh as he glanced over to BB-4001X

Aiden was just hoping for a smooth ride, yet it seemed they were going to someplace far off in the unknown galaxies, so how smooth of a ride could one expect. And not to mention much of what was going on was completely foreign to Aiden in regards to the piloting and such. He wished Addison Porte was here. He missed his sister greatly and not to mention she was the pilot of the family. While he loved his mother dearly, he felt Addison would definitely outfly her.

As the jump happened and they arrived on the other side, Aiden did feel a slight nauseated feeling as he stumbled backwards slightly due to the jump and whatever that feeling was. It went away after a few moments and the the announcment was made that they were no longer in the Trebodar System.

Which what he could assumed is the jump was made successfully despite the sudden jerk in movement that caused the Padawan to stumble about for a few seconds.

"What about organics?"

"Any ill effects?

"A slightly nauseated feeling, I will admit. But that is going away as we speak. Are you okay?" Aiden inquired looking towards the droid.

 

[BB-4001X]

"A slightly nauseated feeling, I will admit. But that is going away as we speak. Are you okay?" Aiden inquired looking towards the droid.

So organics felt a difference as well. "My function is unimpaired," the droid offered simply, glancing back up at the Jedi at the expression of concern.

"Engineering reports that the Saotome Drive should be online again in one hour, seventeen minutes," the operations officer reported.

Looking off to the side of the bridge, the small droid gave a nod. "Let's try and identify a destination by then," he commented, walking over to the com-scan board. "Are we able to detect any star systems?"

"Stellar cartography has identified four celestial bodies," the com-scan officer supplied, as the star map was updated. Indicating a large cloud, the science officer continued. "One appears to be a nebula. Initial scans put its size and composition as analogous to the Kaliida Nebula."

Moving from the cloud to a red dot that was relatively close, the com-scan tech said, "The star closest to our position is a red star that may be in an expansion phase. Next is a binary system," they continued, indicating two smaller dots a short distance a field. Finally, they indicated a blue dot at the edge of the ship's sensor range. "Further is a blue star. We're detecting some emissions from that system, but its possible that its interference from the star itself."

A star in a transitional phase. A binary star system. And a system with electromagnetic activity.

"The opportunity to observe a supernova would be scientifically remarkable, and its possible we'd be able to record observation of planets or objects about to be destroyed," the droid remarked aloud. He'd largely dismissed the binary star system. And the nebula. The red star and blue star seemed the most appealing options, but for entirely divergent reasons. "But if the blue star system is indicating signs of possible electromagnetic activity, that's also worthy of investigation."

Turning to regard the Jedi, the afro-bot asked, "Thoughts?"

It was possible the Force was a variable he hadn't yet accounted for. He wondered if the Jedi would focus on one option over another. Or possibly even an option that the droid had discounted entirely.

 

[Aiden Porte]

"The opportunity to observe a supernova would be scientifically remarkable, and its possible we'd be able to record observation of planets or objects about to be destroyed,"

"That's no joke...." Aiden said with a small smile, his curiosity getting the best of him. He's reminded of his adventures with Jun Chiyo , he knew she would have loved to have been apart of this. "If we can observe and get solid readings on this, we could perhaps find a means to prevent their destructions." Aiden thought, which was more a thought than anything. He was indeed no scientist or expert on the subject, unlike his BB-4001X was.

"But if the blue star system is indicating signs of possible electromagnetic activity, that's also worthy of investigation."

"Definitely, that's why we are here. I feel we should check out every aspect that we can. This jump in itself was miracle it seemed. We should do everything we can while we are here. Your thoughts?"

Aiden his knew his insight would help somewhat, but he was definitely out of his element here among the stars. He thought of Addison Porte and wished she was here as well.

 

[BB-4001X]

Aiden Porte

"This jump in itself was miracle it seemed. We should do everything we can while we are here. Your thoughts?"

The Jedi saw the pros and cons of each option as well, though from a different perspective than the droid had. A reminder of the value of a partnership such as this venture, so not to miss points of view that the droids otherwise would have.

But it was that final statement that decided the matter. The Jedi was correct. The jump itself was a miracle and they should not take that fact for granted until they had more experience and more precise data on such jumps.

"Limiting our range of movement from the entry point will help us as we work through what the correlations are between realspace and travel to this location," the droid rationalized aloud.

"We'll proceed to the nearest star once the Saotome Drive is on-line," the afro-bot stated. Glancing at the navigator and the operations officer, the droid confirmed each heard the order before he turned his attention back to Aiden.

"I recommend you get some rest. It should be quite tense when we arrive."

It was several hours later before the ship slid into the star system that was now being consumed by its own star.

A terrestrial planet with several moons was now close enough to the expanding star that the gravity had started to rip the world apart. Chunks of earth and mantle breaking away from both it and one of its moons as they seemed to disintegrate from the awesome power radiating from the expanding red giant.

"The star is in the initial phase of supernova," the com-scan officer reported. "Radiation levels in the system are on the order of three times what this star ordinarily produces, but our radiation shielding is compensating."

"Remarkable," the afro-bot noted, eyes unblinking as he took in the sight of a world torn apart from the intense gravity. Turning his head, he started to say, "Launch probe droids to begin making detailed scans of the--"

"Captain, we're picking up a transmission," the analyst droid at the operations station snapped. "I believe it is some kind of distress signal."

The droid reoriented his thought process immediately. "Can you triangulate the source of the transmission?"

"There is too much interference from the star to get a precise reading," the com-scan officer reported. "However, I believe it may be coming from one of the moons of that planetoid."

"That doesn't give us much time to investigate," the droid noted. "Do we have a vector safe enough for a shuttle to investigate?"

"It is a narrow and closing window, captain," the com-scan officer warned.

The droid gave a nod before turning toward Aiden. "Master Jedi, are you up for a closer look at those moons?"