ORC Research Project

[lionel]

... Confidential ...

Background
802AS, on Planet Honshu at the University of Electro-Communications Katelyn Vetta was lounging in a high back chair with rather dull gray yet soft upholstery. The Tessan auditorium was only partially full of participants to hear Dr. Oto speak about “The New Frontier”. The session was one of many within the Sirius Energy Organization (SEO) consortium currently featured at semesters end.

Katelyn or Ky as she preferred, was physically drained and at the same time relaxed after just delivering her dissertation on photon conductance through multiple organic cells. Her fellow classmates and professors received her talk well and she purred with feelings of accomplishment. I will meet them later at our favorite hang out, she thought. All the department grad students will be there to prod each others slip ups and drink sake tea. I know I butchered the Kusari translation when I answered Professor Binchu’s question. I will never master this language to his satisfaction.

Dr. Oto continuing with his talk said something that caught Ky off guard, “… and therefore any society that gambles their resources without first mastering the ability to harness energy beyond their direct needs will most likely dwindle and remain stagnant.” The statement hit home, I wonder if the cells could manage higher throughput capacity, if I could bridge that we would have a low loss conduit. Ky pondered the thought while partly soaking up the free time in the dark auditorium.

Moments later a well tailored lady sat next to her, she had slight oriental shape to her eyes and an immaculate posture. Confidence radiated from this woman, yet a friend. “Konnichiwa, I am Hoshi Tanaka, I represent and trade for the Gas Miners Guild.” I bowed my head in response, “I am Ky Vetta, good to meet you Tanaka-san.” Maybe she was recruiting; yes she must be… dressed like that. “How may I help you ma’am.” Hoshi noticed Ky tense, “Do not worry I am only here to congratulate you on your speech. Even though I understand little of your work I found the concept intriguing. Most importantly I know good character when I see it and I like the way you handled the Professors pointed questions.” Relaxing a little, “Domo arigato, Dr. Bin means well he is my mentor.” Hoshi handed me her contact chip, “Yes, well I have an appointment and must go. I wanted to let you know if you are looking to join a first-rate team send me a comm. I can always use good people in my group.” I stood with her and we both bowed a farewell, “Enjoy your graduation Ky as duties will come soon enough, and take care.” Hoshi turned and disappeared up the hall. Duties yes, if only she knew I was shipping out next week to Officer training for the Order.




811AS, sector G4 Omicron Minor in Resheph Cruiser Mora, Ky Vetta sitting perched in the Captains chair scanned the bridge monitors for incoming readings. The bridge crews were dutifully watching their own monitors and were primarily logging, she liked to watch the overhead monitors herself. Captain Sterling was off tending a last minute meeting on BS Isis for Reserve fleet. It was First Officer’s duty to fill in as acting Captain and Ky felt comfortable leaning on the chairs arm. The crew assigned to Mora was Sterling’s people yet she felt at home after her initial assignment one year ago.

Typically the days were filled with drills and passive monitoring of this alien gate floating in eerie green gasses of Omicron Minor. On occasion a few Nomad fighters would test our shields and the gunnies would see action. Personally I am interested in the transmissions from these Nomads and today the gate started to radiate high frequency pulses. My interests were peaked and happy to have control of Mora’s recording suite.

“Captains log 5.6.811, Ky Vetta as acting Captain… I decided to set 4k out from our primary observation target when the gate started to transmit high frequency gamma energy. We have deployed all antenna and screen collectors with active micro resolution recording. The transmission remains constant with its repeating rate for two hours. Our communications team has yet to correlate the meaning or significance. We will hold here and observe. Ky out.” Now we wait, maybe our labs will decipher something later.

A few minutes later the comm tech reported, “Captain we have an energy spike from the gate, something is initiating a jump sequence.” That’s twice in one day… well maybe something is going down. “Comm continue with the data acquisition, Nav prepare a course for Toledo just in case.” “Take us to alert status.” The crew leaped into overdrive attending to their stations. Looking at the view plate a Nomad Gun Boat appeared between Mora’s port bow and the gate. “They were cloaked Captain and heading for the gate.” Damn these Nomads and their advanced technology, they were running surveillance on our system. “Battle stations! Nav full thrusters ahead, gunners fire missiles when ready.”

Mora came to life as her aft thrusters flared and closing the gap on the Gun Boat. Two missiles screamed from their tubes leaving exhaust trails in the green swirling gas. The Nomad ship was moving slow as it approached the gate energy ring. “We have two hits Cap, their shields are down.” “Nice work gunny.” Ky glanced at Mora’s energy monitor… just a little more, two thirds recharged yes. “Fire mortar now!” A brilliant blue light shot from Mora’s front turret and the recoil jolted the hull. The blue ball of light is imminent destruction for the Gun Boat if it hits. Ky leaned slowly in the Captains chair as she watched the devastating mortar close in. Gunny sergeant Jake blurted, “Yes we hit!” The Nomad Gun Boat expelled into a fire ball and immediately afterwards imploded in the vacuum of space. Ky sat up straight and hoped some evidence was still floating for retrieval. “Excellent focus crew, gunny you get an extra week of shore leave for that shot.” Ky glanced at the scanners and nothing was seen. “Comm any signatures?” “Captain our scopes look clear.” “Ok prepare for debris scans and initiate Nomad tractor protocol.” I sure hope we find something that will help the lab techs. Leaning back she patted the chairs arm, “Good girl Mora.”




816AS mid year, sector B2 Omicron-100 in Resheph Cruiser MuNuk, Ky was seated at table’s end in the officers briefing room reviewing Reserve Fleet communiqués and finishing what seemed like endless pad work. All in a days work as Captain in the fleet she thought. Chan walked in and set a hot cup on the table, “ma’am would you like anything else?” Ky looked at the hot coco and smiled, “Thanks Chan that’s all for now.” Chan walked out and turned, “Good night ma’am I am turning in for the night.” He sealed the door and set the ‘Do Not Disturb’ active. Chan meant well, he always looks after me and one of the best chefs in the fleet. Having a personal chef was one of the Captains perks in the fleet. The briefing room comm pad beeped. Ky hit the response button, “What’s up nav.” “Skipper we may have a situation at Mora station. Their station master mentioned they have hostile Nomads.” Now what Ky thought… this is an unusual time for the squids to be active, “Route us to Mora and go to yellow alert. I’ll be there in a minute.” Taking a sip of coco, I wish I had time to finish this and review the scanner logs. I guess I am a scientist at heart. Ky placed her Captains hat on squarely and moved for the door.
Minutes later Ky walked on the bridge of MuNuk, first officer Venture paused and stood from the chair, “Skipper on deck!” Cutting through the formality, “What’s the situation?” “ETA Mora in five minutes and seems we have a runner holding outside their perimeter.” A runner meant it was a Nomad Void Runner, a light fighter class. “Ok steady in and let’s watch the scanners around the jump hole.” I am worried about others jumping in on Mora. It could be a Nomad strike.

At Mora station one patrol fighter remained engaged after losing the wing man, the plain hard fact is that Nomad Runners could out turn our Anubis fight snubs. The Order fighter twisted in evasive maneuvers with Nomad lasers blazing from behind. Moments later the Order pilot ejected from his Anubis seconds before the last laser exploded the engine module. A small burst of flame quickly engulfed the Anubis and briskly snuffed out. The Nomad ship came to full stop to resume it’s original goal.

A few minutes later MuNuk slipped into scanner range of Mora station, “Skipper we have the runner on scanner. We are picking up pulse energy on gamma spectrum, it’s radiating from the Nomad ship.” Now why would a single Nomad be at Mora? “Comm make sure you record those energy readings.” Comm officer, “Skipper the runner is on the move and heading toward the jump hole. I bet his scanners flashed on our approach” Ky agreed with her comm officer. Oh no you don’t, “Nav take us to the jump hole. Prepare for jump sequence.” MuNuk veered to the glowing green jump ring with engines at full cruise velocity. The deck plate on the bridge rumbled with it’s usual subtle vibrations. The Nomad fighter approached the jump point with nimble speed and disappeared in the jump transition.

“Comm inform Mora we are jumping after the runner. Request a fighter squad for support.” Comm officer Keaton sent the request by tight beam transmission. Standard protocol when enemy forces are near. The cruiser punched into the jump hole without hesitation. Ky watched the monitors as MuNuk rumbled through the worm hole.

Seconds past when MuNuk appeared on other end of the worm hole, Omicron-92 is an expanse of glowing green fog like gases with jagged rocks floating throughout. A nightmare setting for a cruiser captain. Keaton hovering closely over his workstation, “Skipper I have a single reading straight ahead, it’s faint at best.” Ky pondered, I want that fighter and I want to know what those energy pulses were, “Nav best speed in pursuit. Watch out for those rocks.” Did that runner capture something? Helmsman Jigger navigated the cruiser through the rocks with precision. Ky watched the overhead monitors, the scanners remained visually silent after loosing signal strength on the runner.

The crew were intently watching their monitors as MuNuk glided around the narrow sliver shaped rocks. After 10k of distance Keaton raised his head, “Skipper I have an unknown signal straight out at 5k.” Ky looked at the view plate, “Full stop nav.” What is that… a structure? Maybe an opportunity to learn, “We’ll sit here and run a few scans of our own.”

A few minutes later scanner monitors flashed with multiple objects. Keaton adjusted the incoming data trying to compensate on the dense green gas, “We have multiple ships incoming from both sides skipper.” It seems there is always payment for good information, “Nav get us back to the jump hole, now! Gunny charge the turrets we’ll need defensive volleys.” I hope that fighter squad is on it.

Just as MuNuk rounded on it’s return path six Nomad Assassins fighters stormed the starboard side. The shields dropped incrementally as the hull buffeted. Soon after two Nomad gun boats barraged the aft engine section as they moved up behind. Immediately afterwards MuNuk’s turrets whaled in return fire. The bridge crew were in an intense cascade of motions. Ky whirled to look at the damage control monitor. Minimal damage, we have to keep those shields alive, “Use all sources for shields. We have to make the jump hole.” Shortly after receiving several attacks from the trailing gun boats the shields were lost resulting in damaged engines. Number one screamed across the bridge, “Skipper we lost the engines, thrusters are still green!” MuNuk shook as the fighters bombarded and multiple hull breaches flashed on damage control. Ky kept her calm posture, “Gunny place all turrets on the gun boats.” Just as she cast the command one of the Nomad gun boats erupted into pieces. The turrets moved to the remaining gun boat. Ky watched the navigation screen, only 7k to the jump hole. Without engines we’ll never make the jump, meaning our last stand is at the jump hole.

A short distance out from the jump hole multiple signals appeared on the scanner. Keaton called out, “Skipper we have eight scans at the jump rim. Confirming… they’re ours!” Not a moment to soon, “Nav bring us behind our fighters. We need cover.” The eight signals were soon recognized as six Nephthys and two Sekhmets, more than a match for the remaining Nomad ships. “One how bad is it.” The Chief looked up and shook his head, “We are venting heavily and loosing the reactor.” The Order fighters quickly engaged the Nomad ships for a short duration and after three Assassins were vaporized the Nomads decided to move. “Comm send a signal to Mora, tell them we need a transport for evacuation.” Ky knew MuNuk had critical hull damage and in hostile territory meant she was to be detonated. “Chief prepare for our evacuation I am scuttling her.” The bridge crew looked up and paused, then returned to their duties. Ky knew their sinking feeling however prices are paid for information and hoped the data quality collected was worth the loss. Ky patted her chair, “Thanks for hanging on old girl.”