Life in the Maelstrom

Posted on Wed Dec 9, 2020 @ 10:31am by Commander Ajani Carter & Lieutenant Commander Dr. Elisabet Intarrah Ph.D MD

Mission: Episode 1: On Stranger Tides
Location: Astrometrics
875 words - 1.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Lise was in the Astrometric lab studying this discovery. In fact she had been in astrometric studying the anomaly she dubbed 'La Isla Bonita.' Her attention suddenly focused on the lifeforms in the accretion disk. "Wow....." She stated simply. She tapped her combadge. "Ajani, are you seeing this?"

From her chair on the bridge Carter smiled, "Oh i'm seeing it. Is there anything like this in the records?" She was sure that there wouldn't be, but no harm in checking; after all it wasn't every day a crew got to make a discovery that might change what we thought we knew about space borne creatures.

"Unprecedented, Ajani. This is a whole new classification of lifeform. Not carbon, nor silicon based nor any form of matter. Possibly a energy based lifeform, unlikely." Lise noted. "Lifeforms moving through the accretion disk. I think this lifeform is based on something else. Energy cannot escape a black hole."

"It is a shame that we can't get closer" she muttered almost to her self.

"Unfortunate. We may never be able to study this life form up close. They are withstanding gas and dust particles in the disk moving at relativistic speeds. We'd never get close to perform any form of close range analysis, and survive to submit it as an academic study." Lise stated simply.

"Could they be the the reason for the unusual gravity fluctuations we detected? Maybe they are using Anti-gravity as a counter? ANd are these readings correct? Are they feeding on the Hawking Radiation?"

Lise responded. "We'd truly never know, Ajani. Don't even know if I could submit this as a discovery and not have it challenged as allegory because simply we have no close range studies of the lifeforms. It would be as interesting as my ability to make greek food. Just not right." Lise mentioned. "Wait... Those sensor arrays you bought time on. Do we still have access to them?"

Carter considered and then swiped the screens until she came across her access to the arrays. "Um, I can still access a few more. The array in the Bajor system is the closest and is currently unactive. Give me a moment"

"Ajani, Sometimes I admire your adventurous streak." Lise mentioned.

Carter sent her request, the commander of the Bajor array was a friend, she sent a request to use the array; pointing it at the blackhole. With the massive subspace array they will be able to penetrate the dust cloud and get a good look at these creatures. "You should be getting the readings now Lise".

Lise studied the new data coming through. She went silent for many moments until she spoke. "This is possibly the greatest discovery of the century." The Scientist Noted. "It's Quantum based life... Feeding on Hawking radiation..."

"That explains the lack of Hawking Radiation on our sensors" she said turning the image before her. She spoke to Mr, Sanok at tactical. She wasn't really speaking over the communications channel. "Lise, we have detected a ship within the heard, I am launching a probe, it should give us a burst of high quality data before it was destroyed. Be ready, Tactical will deal with the ship you see what you can get about the creatures and the blackhole" there was a pause and then "Now Lise"

Lise began scanning the black hole. "Commander, I think that's a Cardassian Hideki Class Assault Ship." Lise noted. "It fits the length. Think it's close enough to the Event Horizon to be temporally displaced Commander." Lise mentioned.

Carter nodded, of course Lise couldn't see it "Right, any chance of getting to it?" she asked.

"Suffice to say, Captain, they're probably in a very precarious situation there. Ove there, probably only a few minutes have passed since they've got caught in the anomaly. Out here, years might have passed. Decades even." Lise noted. "I wouldn't advise rescue, as we'll simply end up in their position."

"Its a mute point now Lise, it is making an attack run at us. The creatures seem to have been protecting the attack ship from the blackhole. Prepare yourself for combat Lieutenant"

"Unknown vessel is firing phasers," said Sanok.

"Brace for impact" Ajani called and then pressed the only button she had yet to test. From the shoulders and arm rests of her chair sprung the restraints and would now hold her snug in place. The First shots splashed across the fore shields doing now harm, the beam that struck out from the Hideki punched into the underside of the Eagle's shields lifting them all up a few feet. A console exploded at the back of the bridge, Carter swung around and was thankful that no one had been manning that station.

"Shields to 94%," said Sanok.

"Attack pattern Beta Carter two" she said scrolling through her screens "Target engines, shields and weapons, in that order" Just as the attacking vessel fired a trio of... "Really" she said focusing on the incoming fire "Micro Torpedoes?" she glanced back at Sanok frowning. "Please disable them!"

"Lise, i'm closing the channel, make sure your people are okay"

Lise began to scan the ship. Something was wrong here. Why would the Cardassians simply attack with now challenge nor any other reason.