Lieutenant Jennifer Smedly
F.W.S. WarpStar
Mid FTL Travel
Milky Way Galaxy
The food was nothing short of amazing; Jennifer Smedley couldn’t recall the last time she had savored a meal this wonderful. Spending three years undercover had taken a toll on her, both physically and emotionally. ‘Why the hell did I do that?’ she pondered, letting the flavors dance on her palate as she consumed her meal in the ship's Galley. After the death of her dear friend John, Federation Intelligence had deemed Char the perfect candidate for a covert operation, a mission that involved pretending to go AWOL. However, it was essential for the operation’s credibility that Char’s friend — someone who could provide backup and share the burden of deception — accompany her. Without hesitation, Jen agreed. With no family to anchor her, born on the now-desolate Orion, she had lost everyone she ever knew when the Alliance obliterated her home system with nuclear fire. Two soldiers with nothing to lose, fueled by an intense hunger for revenge, and fortuitously, already friends. It was the perfect setup, a blend of necessity and camaraderie. Jen took immense pride in the work she accomplished during those arduous three years, but she also missed the Command Information Center aboard the WarpStar deeply. That was her true home, her sanctuary. The controls, the sensor readouts — they offered her an escape from the harsh realities of life.
As she glanced over the latest compiled sensor readouts from the ship's engagement with the cloaked enemy, she could not help but feel a flicker of pride. Her temporary replacement had managed to detect the subtle Neutrino emissions, which were faint yet unmistakable, hinting at an attempt to shield their activities. This could very well explain the lack of detection from any other source. Then there were the Graviton readings — those were a puzzle she couldn’t quite fit together.
“Poke! Hey jerk!” A chipper Commander Carr plopped down at her side, a plate filled with a juicy, tender meal in hand, clearly relishing every bite.
“Hey bitch!” Jen retorted with a playful smirk. Technically, she had just committed a minor offense against protocol, but their bond was so strong that she could sense when such informalities were permissible.
“God, this is what I missed the most. Right here; the chef makes some damn good grub!" Char exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with delight.
“You’re damn right! Holy shit! I almost forgot what real food tasted like!" Jen replied, her enthusiasm matching Char's.
“Some of those outposts had some decent stuff,” Char said, her mouth full, the words tumbling out with a hint of nostalgia.
“Yeah, where were we? Tennor? Or was it Colim? The ports there had this one taco shop. I don’t even know if they called them tacos, but to me, they were tacos. No clue what was in them, but they were damn good!" Jen continued, laughter bubbling between them.
“That was Tennor! I remember those! But my favorite were the noodles we found on Helnor Prime!" Char added, her eyes widening at the memory.
“Oh, yeah, those were good! Hey, take a look at this.” Jen slid her tablet across the table toward Char. “These graviton readings—anything strike you as odd?"
“Hmm, let me check.” Char replied, momentarily distracted by her meal, stuffing her face once more.
“Don’t just look at one frame; play the entire sequence,” Jen instructed, her voice laced with urgency.
“Alright. Hmm… Woah, huh?” Char’s expression shifted as she absorbed the data.
“You see it, don’t you?” Jen’s eyes lit up; she felt vindicated in her observations.
“The Graviton particles are normal for a ship that size; it’s the gravitational waves that thing is producing that stand out,” Char deduced.
“Bingo!” Jen exclaimed, her excitement palpable.
“If you study it hard enough, you can clearly see two sets of gravitational waves. One, which is the weakest, is constant right where the ship always was; the other moves with the ship, as if it’s pulling it,” Char elaborated.
“And we have yet another winner!” Jen declared enthusiastically. “Come on, Charr, can we do three for oh?"
“Is this a reactionless drive?” Char guessed, though her instincts as a pilot whispered that the ship was driven by gravitons rather than the conventional Newtonian laws of motion.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a flawless victory!” Jen proclaimed, unable to contain her triumph.
“You’re joking? Those are hypothetical! Hell, the last paper I read on them pretty much declared them impossible, and research into them has nearly ground to a halt,” Char countered, skepticism coloring her words.
“Think about it! You of all people should recognize it. Even with that cloak—however the hell they pulled that off—their movements are too precise. They didn’t have to brake or execute hard maneuvers at all. They just flew like an aircraft. Add that to these gravitational wave readings, and consider the tiny neutrino emissions coming from the same spot that ship always seemed to occupy. I believe we have another player on the board. This is no Alliance or Sumerian tech that I know of. Hell, I don’t even think the Terrans have cracked reactionless drives.”
“How did we even detect those Neutrinos?” Char queried, her mind racing with the implications.
“Best guess: they had a leak somewhere in their shielding system and didn’t know about it,” Jen speculated.
“Hmm, that would definitely cause that, but…” Char continued to scrutinize the report. Piloting was in her blood, and she had always kept up with the latest in propulsion technology. Jennifer knew if anyone would be intrigued by this, it would be Char! She fiddled with the readings for a few more minutes, lost in the analysis, until their communicator began to chirp. A fifteen-minute countdown initiated, signaling that it was time to take their stations.
Heidi
F.W.S WarpStar
Mid-FTL Flight
Milky Way Galaxy
Tick, tock, goes the clock, each tick echoing in the silence of the bridge. If she stared at it long enough, time seemed to stretch and contract, moving at a pace that felt almost mocking. Wasn’t that the age-old tale? A watched pot never boils. Heidi kept reminding herself to stay busy, to focus on the tasks at hand, and to stop fixating on the clock. The time would come, she assured herself. And when it did, the bridge would spring to life, bustling with the energy of the first shift officers arriving at their duty stations.
“Ten minutes until FTL exit,” Jax reported from the helm, his voice steady despite the anticipation in the air.
“Alright, we’re officially in uncharted territory,” Heidi replied, her tone resolute. “OOD, sound general quarters. We have no idea what we’re coming into.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Junior Officer Mace responded with a crispness that belied her slight apprehension. She pulled the klaxon three times, the sound echoing through the ship like a siren call. “General Quarters, General Quarters, all hands to battle stations!”
Heidi activated her 1MC unit, her voice cutting through the rising tension. “This is your captain. Listen up. This is going to be the first in a series of jumps within our galaxy. We have no idea what we are about to encounter. In less than five minutes, this ship will emerge into normal space, further than any Humana has ever been. We need to be on our toes. Anything can happen. We will remain at General Quarters until our next FTL entry.”
“One minute until hyperdrive resets,” Mace reported, her eyes flickering between her instruments. “Helm, drop us out of FTL, upon exiting FTL, neutral thrust.”
“Helm, aye,” Jax echoed, his hands deftly pulling the levers back, reducing power to zero and setting the throttle to neutral thrust. The chaotic dance of colors outside the viewport faded, giving way to a backdrop of stars as they entered normal space. “Helm answering neutral thrust.”
Tick, tock, goes the clock again. There it was, that persistent tale. The worst part of space flight was the waiting, Heidi mused. She tried to keep herself occupied, her thoughts drifting as she awaited the familiar chirp of the 18MC, signaling Jen's perky voice. It didn’t take long for her to hear it.
“Con, C.I.C. Passives report no close contacts. No local stars or celestial bodies; we are in a void of space.”
Heidi switched to the 18MC, pausing as she considered her next move. Normally, she would instruct C.I.C. to go active at this point, but hesitation crept in. They didn’t need to, she thought. If there were a threat, they would have detected it by now. This was the void of space—absolutely nothing here. What were the chances of encountering, well, anything, out here? “C.I.C. Con, aye,” she finally replied, returning the mic unit. “OOD, start the clock. Jump us to our destination.”
Confusion flickered across JO Mace’s face, as she had expected active sensor reports. She stuttered slightly. “Uh, aye, yes ma’am. Nav, initiate jump protocol to Nyxara. Helm, immediate execute all ahead full.”
“Helm, aye.”
“Nav, aye,” the pair responded in unison, their voices a chorus of determination.
The BOOM from the mains roared to life as the ship propelled forward, quickly reaching 15g. The intent was clear: prime their exit speed in case they needed to maneuver rapidly.
“Nav reports handshake complete; we have hyperspace lock.”
“Jump!” Mace commanded. A small brown dot began forming in the center of the screen, rapidly expanding until it consumed the entire view.
Heidi was about to glance at the clock again, waiting for the sensor readouts, when the 18MC crackled to life, followed almost immediately by an explosion that rocked the ship.
“Con, C.I.C. Multiple close contacts, multiple ship configurations, multiple factions—we’re in the middle of a war zone!”
“Evasive maneuvers!” Char shouted, gripping the console as another explosion reverberated through the hull.
“C.I.C. Con, go active. Give me an immediate picture of our surroundings,” Heidi commanded over the 18MC, her heart racing.
Return pings came in almost instantaneously, revealing that the WarpStar had inadvertently jumped into the midst of a battle between The Legion, The Alliance, and the Mordechai Hegemony. Heidi glanced at the tactical readout, her mind racing. She needed only a second to realize they wouldn’t last long in this chaotic situation.
“Helm, immediate execute FTL on our vector, 25c.”
“Helm, aye!” Jax responded, his focus unwavering. The world around them swirled back into the safety of the multicolored spectrum.
“That was too close,” Heidi exhaled, her voice steadier than she felt. “Helm, keep us on FTL for five more minutes. Then take us out, upon go signal from C.I.C. Get our vector towards the next jump target and engage at two thousand c.”
The bridge finally settled into a calm, albeit tense, rhythm, the vibrant hues of the multiverse wrapping around them. The clock resumed its countdown, now ticking down from thirty hours until their next jump point, where the hyperdrive would finally reset itself. This time, Heidi hoped for a peaceful transition.