08-01-2024, 06:46 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-01-2024, 06:47 PM by Altairi Hydish.)
As an object approaches the speed of light, its perception of time begins to diverge from that of a motionless observer. As that object goes faster, and faster, and surpasses the universal constant, what it considers mere minutes become centuries in the eyes of the observer.
Starfleet officers rarely had to worry about that, of course. Going to warp didn't propel you to the speed of light, exactly. The beauty of a stable warp field was that you got to avoid the pesky issue of relativity. A spacer could hop across the alpha quadrant and come home in time for Christmas. Quantum slipstream wasn't much different, simply being a more efficient application of the principle.
And still, it felt like the Yeager had been carried off beyond the speed of light, and that Altairi had been left behind on the other side of the relativistic equation. Five minutes for the ship felt like an eternity in his mind. The microfluctuations in its quantum field stretched out till the sine waves on the console in front of him became lines. Little beeps jumping out from around the room similarly stretched into infinitely long hums, then fell off into silence. The Warp Core, once a dance of swirling blue clouds, froze as if waiting for applause.
Then the blue-tinted stillness began to expand, each change in hue suddenly stretched out into a line. Altairi watched in awe as he was suddenly back aboard a little ferry due for Earth, looking out the viewport as all of the universe seemed to stretch out into one magnificent display, back when space used to be beautiful.
And then the expanse collapsed in on itself, withdrawing back into the swirl of the core. Engineering materialized around him. With a thundering whoosh echoing through the bulkheads, sound returned to the room, clicks and beeps pinging at his ears. The console in front of him, once glowing red, faded to yellow, then green.
"Cooldown's initiating. I'll have the diagnostic results available to you in a few minutes, sir."
"Thanks." He sent a nod Laate's way, then turned around to survey the rest of the room.
Not bad, Nahamcam. Not bad at all.
"Ladies and gentlemen... Our first slipstream jump." Altairi mused to himself. As much as he wanted to sit down and throw a department party, he knew there was a mountain of work to be done first. Braggins wouldn't order the Yeager to slipstream for nothing. So either they were running away from danger, or running toward it. Judging by the lack of alarms ringing throughout the ship, he was inclined to believe the latter.
[Bridge to Engineering; Altairi, I need you to disguise or mask our energy signature. It doesn't have to be perfect, just make us look like anything but a Federation starship.]
Knew it.
His eyes found Zirhut and Barkley on the other side of the room, beckoned the engineers over, then tapped Laate on the shoulder. While he waited, Altairi took the opportunity to draw the PADD from his belt, jotting down a set of commands.
Once he had his propulsion techs in attendance, the chief lifted his head. “Alright. New orders from the Captain. We’re to make sure this ship isn’t throwing out telltale Federation energy signatures, so that means adjustments to our warp and impulse coils.” He paused, gauging the engineers’ faces and writing down a few more commands. “I’m uploading the specs of a civilian survey ship. I should be a quick adjustment, but I don’t want any of you taking unnecessary risks. Keep your comm badges patched into mine. Let me know if anything comes up.”
He holstered the PADD, then looked around again, waiting for questions.
“Alright, dismissed.”
Once they were gone, Altairi turned around, taking a seat at the console Laate had left behind. The adrenaline of the past few minutes made its final pass through his body and was carried off on the waves of an exhale. Then he got to work, minimizing and opening windows, clearing diagnostics to make room for a rendering of the Yeager in her entirety. Reconfiguring her energy signatures would be a good start, but it couldn’t hurt to sell the illusion on any onlooker’s radar.
He brought up a command line wired into the ship's complement of probes. If he did his math right, a net of holograms and subtle EM interference would be enough to soften her Starfleet edges and paint over the shapes of her weapons systems.
As his finger hovered over the launch button, he took a moment to wonder: Who exactly are we trying to hide from?
== GM: How effective are the adjustments to the Yeager's appearance on sensors? ==
Starfleet officers rarely had to worry about that, of course. Going to warp didn't propel you to the speed of light, exactly. The beauty of a stable warp field was that you got to avoid the pesky issue of relativity. A spacer could hop across the alpha quadrant and come home in time for Christmas. Quantum slipstream wasn't much different, simply being a more efficient application of the principle.
And still, it felt like the Yeager had been carried off beyond the speed of light, and that Altairi had been left behind on the other side of the relativistic equation. Five minutes for the ship felt like an eternity in his mind. The microfluctuations in its quantum field stretched out till the sine waves on the console in front of him became lines. Little beeps jumping out from around the room similarly stretched into infinitely long hums, then fell off into silence. The Warp Core, once a dance of swirling blue clouds, froze as if waiting for applause.
Then the blue-tinted stillness began to expand, each change in hue suddenly stretched out into a line. Altairi watched in awe as he was suddenly back aboard a little ferry due for Earth, looking out the viewport as all of the universe seemed to stretch out into one magnificent display, back when space used to be beautiful.
And then the expanse collapsed in on itself, withdrawing back into the swirl of the core. Engineering materialized around him. With a thundering whoosh echoing through the bulkheads, sound returned to the room, clicks and beeps pinging at his ears. The console in front of him, once glowing red, faded to yellow, then green.
"Cooldown's initiating. I'll have the diagnostic results available to you in a few minutes, sir."
"Thanks." He sent a nod Laate's way, then turned around to survey the rest of the room.
Not bad, Nahamcam. Not bad at all.
"Ladies and gentlemen... Our first slipstream jump." Altairi mused to himself. As much as he wanted to sit down and throw a department party, he knew there was a mountain of work to be done first. Braggins wouldn't order the Yeager to slipstream for nothing. So either they were running away from danger, or running toward it. Judging by the lack of alarms ringing throughout the ship, he was inclined to believe the latter.
[Bridge to Engineering; Altairi, I need you to disguise or mask our energy signature. It doesn't have to be perfect, just make us look like anything but a Federation starship.]
Knew it.
His eyes found Zirhut and Barkley on the other side of the room, beckoned the engineers over, then tapped Laate on the shoulder. While he waited, Altairi took the opportunity to draw the PADD from his belt, jotting down a set of commands.
Once he had his propulsion techs in attendance, the chief lifted his head. “Alright. New orders from the Captain. We’re to make sure this ship isn’t throwing out telltale Federation energy signatures, so that means adjustments to our warp and impulse coils.” He paused, gauging the engineers’ faces and writing down a few more commands. “I’m uploading the specs of a civilian survey ship. I should be a quick adjustment, but I don’t want any of you taking unnecessary risks. Keep your comm badges patched into mine. Let me know if anything comes up.”
He holstered the PADD, then looked around again, waiting for questions.
“Alright, dismissed.”
Once they were gone, Altairi turned around, taking a seat at the console Laate had left behind. The adrenaline of the past few minutes made its final pass through his body and was carried off on the waves of an exhale. Then he got to work, minimizing and opening windows, clearing diagnostics to make room for a rendering of the Yeager in her entirety. Reconfiguring her energy signatures would be a good start, but it couldn’t hurt to sell the illusion on any onlooker’s radar.
He brought up a command line wired into the ship's complement of probes. If he did his math right, a net of holograms and subtle EM interference would be enough to soften her Starfleet edges and paint over the shapes of her weapons systems.
As his finger hovered over the launch button, he took a moment to wonder: Who exactly are we trying to hide from?
== GM: How effective are the adjustments to the Yeager's appearance on sensors? ==