Return to Pathstone
Posted on Sun Feb 7th, 2021 @ 7:18pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Rozia & Lieutenant Alanah Matashi & Lieutenant Commander William Gunnison & Linza (Lin) Esni & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers & Lieutenant Commander Nathan Octavian & Lon Nren & Commander Ichiko Gail & Lieutenant Commander Calvin Morgan & Lieutenant Roxa Onaix
Mission:
New Beginnings
Location: Just outside Federation Controlled Space
The trip through the stars at warp had been swift and smooth, a testimony to the engineering division.. Though now, their destination lay ahead, summarized in a single word: Pathstone. Was it a planet? A staging ground? A shipyard? Only those who had seen it before knew the truth, and even then, having seen it it was still a sight difficult to believe.
As the Astraea left warp and re-entered normal space, the sight around was a welcome one. A view into the stars. Or more specifically, at one star in general. A massive yellow star, shining bright and beautiful, warm and inviting. Every viewport tinted to filter out the high intensity of the star, allowing her to be seen for all her splendor.
To some, a familiar sight. Yellow was the color of Earth's star after all. Though this star had a crowded neighborhood. Fifty million kilometers out was the closest solid planet body, with signs of an entire planetary mining operation on it. The crust had been cracked, and a debris cloud stretched into orbit over the small iron sphere. Perhaps the long cold remnant of a larger planet. Lifeless, cold, and dead. No atmosphere, and now just a source of resources for a much larger project, fuel for a massive appetite.
A fleet was on standby, parked somewhere between the mining planet and the star itself. Ships of the entire spectrum of the Ts'usugi fleet were stationed here, as were other, sleeker designs that didn't match the Ts'usugi's aesthetic in any capacity. Shuttles, and ships too small to be shuttles, buzzed around to patrol the region, to scan incoming ships, and to escort them to their destination.
Their destination. A station in orbit over the star in question. Ten million kilometers over the star, there was a structure. Too massive for a stardock. Larger still than a space station. It certainly wasn't a moon.
It was a megastructure.
Lieutenant Onaix was captivated by the star and monitored her sensors, she didn't want to be caught off guard by anything.
Sensors showed a small fleet, accompanied by roughly a hundred flitting, darting support craft. Too small to even be fighters. Perhaps they were unmanned...
"Oh my god..." Evelyn didn't know who said it for a few moments before realizing it was her. They'd slipped out without conscious thought, because what she saw was... Huge. She tapped a couple buttons and let the feed from the passive sensors fill half her screen and barely restrained a whistle of awe and excitement. There was no way to describe it, and those tiny little ships... drones of some sort?
They were small, perhaps three meters cube in volume. A central body of sorts, with two ring structures flanking. The rings housed the impulse propulsion units, though there was a nacelle system detected within the rings, and the tiny little craft was giving off the spark of a tiny matter/anti-matter power reading. Not a single life sign among them. Some of them got close to the Astraea, and began an active scan of the craft, skimming along the surface. When it was content with what it found, the little drone just returned to its patrol. Several of the fighters broke off from their patrol to just escort the massive Astraea along.
Having returned to his bridge station after a short absence, Calvin silently gawked at the massiveness of the structure, before finding it gaudy. "So big," he murmured quietly, not loud enough to hear even if you were next to him.
Though she had seen Pathstone once before, Abigail still found the structure incredulous, though this time in a very different way. Last time Pathstone had been part of their rescue mission, after the Ts'usugi had plucked them from space in the wake of devastation. Now, it seemed different, brighter, shinier. It was part of their future, part of the next step forward, the portal to unknown adventures.
Will looked over the structure. The Ts'Usugi certainly didn't do things like this halfway, did they?
Alanah had been so busy scanning the sector with all the traffic and drones coming and going she had been glued to the console and didn't have time to look up. Then she got an alert and finally looked up at the massive structure before addressing the Captain.
Buck shook his head as he looked at the structure. "Too big." he murmured. "How do you go about building something like that? Where'd they find all the stuff?"
The view ports of the Raging Deity gave an amazing view of the structure. Lon had prepared the lounge by moving the tables that were usually by the large windows so that the off duty crew was able to see the Pathstone with an unobstructed view. Lon himself was taken with the imposing image before him. "Wow." Was all he could say, over and over.
A massive series of rings, held in parallel place by a colossal station. The size of the project dwarfed even the largest ships that were here on patrol. Massive enough to have it's own detachment as a security escort as it hung in space. Impossibly enormous, a staggering display of engineering supremacy.
This was Pathstone. And they were hailing the Astraea.
Linza had been standing at the back of the bridge. She wasn't on bridge duty, nor was she actually fully on duty at all quite yet, as she still had a few things to finish up. However, she was allowed to be up here. And today, she was just watching. She'd never expected to watch anything like this, let alone be where they were now. It was an all new adventure, and she was ready for it.
"Captain we are receiving a hail from the Pathstone. Audio and visual.". Alanah alerted her CO.
"Open a channel," Abigail ordered.
The main screen switched from the view of the Pathstone complex to a spacious office. Seated behind a wide, white desk there was a pair of female figures, vaguely feline in appearance but only at the most generous of comparisons. Each was the exact twin of the other, even down to wearing the same uniform, styling their hair the same, everything. It was almost uncanny.
"Greetings and well met travellers." the figure on the right started. "My name is Sera Dega, I'm the overseer of the Pathstone installation and in the name of exploration and cooperation, I greet..." and she stopped talking. Done. Over.
Her twin, however, picked up the conversation the exact moment it dropped, as though she were the initial speaker all this time, "... you in the name of trust. I welcome you to Pathstone, an initiative to bring the peoples of the galaxy closer together by, well, by bringing the peoples of the galaxy closer together." the pair giggled.
"I was told to expect a starship of your design. Are you, perhaps, the starship I should be expecting?"
The smoothness with which the two beings transitioned in mid conversation caught Abigail off guard for a moment and she found herself staring at the first for a moment or so after they had stopped speaking. Reaffixing her attention on the second, Abigail smiled. "This is the USS Astraea and I am Captain Abigail Laurens. It is an honor to be received so graciously," she offered a slight nod of respect. "I believe my First Officer, Commander Gail," she motioned toward the Ts'usugi occupying the seat next to her, "has made arrangements for our travel to the Delta Quadrant via Pathstone. We are very grateful for your assistance and are ready to do whatever you require."
The pair of them nodded, "It's an interesting situation. I'd be very pleased to help a Daughter of Ts'usu to return home, but you understand that transporting a Federation craft through the aperture is..." and it happened again. Another stop in the discussion.
And again, her twin picked up exactly. "... slightly out of the scope of the Three Dawn accord. Though this would be the first Federation craft through the aperture. I must admit I am very curious." she admitted.
"Though, the Federation is outside of the accord, so I might need to ask something in return for passage through. There's about six hours to the capacitor recharge. Would you mind..."
"... a meet and greet, to discuss the transit?"
Evelyn's eyes opened wide and glittered in anticipation of Abigail's response, and she'd even started to open her mouth to see if she could be a part of the meet and greet team and then to offer a tour of her engineering space to the Dalacari, but shut it before saying a word.
"Of course, Overseer Dega," Abigail again bowed her head slightly. "We would be honoured to meet with you in person to discuss anything you may need. We are able to transport to you, or if you like you are more than welcome to come to our ship and take a tour of the Astraea." She smiled graciously.
The options intrigued her. "As much as I'd enjoy a chance to tour your craft, my duties here require me to be on station. So I would like to extend an invitation for you and your advisory team to join me..."
"... aboard the Pathstone installation for... what time is it?" she asked on her side of the screen. An obviously artificial, but not at all unpleasant voice responded with the time. It was off as far as Astraea's clock was concerned, but perhaps it was sync'ed to Dalacari time. :: It is thirteen fifty three, Overseer. ::
With the proper time in hand, her twin forms smiled. "For lunch. Or, whatever the meal you have in the middle of the day would be."
"We would be honoured," Abigail replied with a smile. She could already feel Evelyn's excitement practically reverberating across the bridge. "I'll see to the arrangements and we'll join you shortly."
"Fantastic." the pair said in unison, then shared a giggle. "Please have your helm officer follow the drones to a holding point, we can all discuss the particulars when you arrive. I'll have our system..."
"... send over transmat coordinates for you and your party to arrive at. Looking forward to meeting you and yours as well. Pathstone out." and the screen was one again dominated by the visage of the Pathstone installation.
"Well, the overseer was...interesting," Will said after the channel was closed.
Linza couldn't help but speak up from the back of the bridge. "I did wonder who was going to speak what as they were going. Sounds like you're in for an interesting lunch."
Ichiko gave a soft smile, it was nice to see and hear the reactions to a new and unusual form of life. "She's a Dalacari. *A* Dalacari." the rabbitess started. "They're all twins, but it's more then that. Two bodies, but one mind. One soul, you could say." she offered. "Dalacari value their space, because they need so much more of it."
"And lunch is safe, Captain. The one thing Dalacari prize highest in the universe is life itself. Safety is the highest standard, because if you hurt one body, the whole Dalacari feels the pain."
"Two bodies, one mind? The medical work they must do is fascinating," Calvin said, a little louder than he intended.
Long ears. "With respects to the practice, doctor, it's second to none. We send our medical students to study at Dalacari academies. Six years of medical school, but if you graduate, you're unquestioned."
"Well if our time crosses their academies, it seems a worthwhile place to check out," Calvin replied at a normal tone of voice.
Unable to contain herself, finally, "Captain, can I go with you?" The words came rushed out, so she had to pause for a moment, "I'll be able to answer any questions they have regarding the ship and be able to address anything we may have to adjust for the trip through." Of course that wasn't the whole truth, but she wanted to be sure there was a good reason for her to be on the team, not just her insane curiosity and desire to ask questions.
Abigail tried very hard to suppress her laughter at the outburst and failed. "With enthusiasm like that Commander how can I possibly say no?" She glanced at Ichiko and smirked. "Rogers, Gunnison, Rozia, Matashi, Wiseman, Onaix, Styvek and Morgan, you're with Commander Gail and myself. Lieutenant Ehal, you have the bridge. Miss Esni, how about you take a stint at security?" Abigail offered with a smile.
Alanah had just gotten back to work and now her first away mission. There was so much going on it was hard to not have her guard up. So far there didn't seem to be any threat but working this long in security you always were prepared for it to go sideways.
Raising an eyebrow when her name was said, Linza then smiled. "Of course, Captain. Consider it done." She knew there likely wasn't going to be much to do, but at the same time, she had been waiting for this.
Buck swivelled his chair around to face Abigail. "Is this a full dress affair or more of a come as you are kinda lunch?"
A standard Dalacari
One of the Drones
Pathstone Installation
