S2E4 A Matter of Debate

[Jettis Jyur]

USS Challenger - Engineering
Solluk nodded to Jettis, "Yes!  Good idea, Lieutenant.  We can use a graviton stream from the ship's forward tractor beam.  Its interactions with the local spacetime distortions should give you all the five-dimensional topography data you need to map this region prior to a jump."

[Engineering]

Jettis nodded obediently as Solluk voiced the plan that was chosen. Orders were quickly given out, and as soon as everyone had theirs, the meeting broke up into their respective duties.

Moving to find some competent Engineers, to get the graviton stream up and running. After a bit of co-operation it was, and Jyur began his mapping process. It was sketchy to say the least, but it was functioning. Like a gigantic echolocation beam, giving him a vague idea of their surrounding area, and how it effected physical objects.

But that was not something to think about now. Now, he would create the framing for the data Lt. Jyur was gathering.

"Ready when you are, Sir." He spoke to the science officer.

The work was done as quickly as strained ship's systems could manage, and with the skeleton map done, he nodded to Abisa. Very few remained in Engineering as all non-essential personelle we're evacuated. "Sending the last bit of data over now. I mapped anything within a lightyear, should be enough to work on for now." Turning slightly, he addressed the Engineering officer helping them: "Be on standby with the graviton beam. We may need it again."

Turning to Anisa, then Lek, he nodded his ready, waiting on them to confirm on their end as well before notifying the Captain.

[Ocras Abisa]

[Engineering - Challenger]

At Lt. Jyur's nod, Ocras fed the data from the mapping into the structure and format used by Kwel's device. It was a quick task, and now, all he could do was wait to see if they would escape as a whole ship, or if he and those around him would be casualties in the explosion that helped the saucer escape.

[Solluk]

Challenger - Bridge

Preparations had been made.  The officers and crew had done their duty.  All that remained was to roll the bones.

"Initiate Coaxial Jump."

As before, the ship became engulfed in a blue flash of light.

When the light faded, Solluk tensed, half expecting to find himself stretched and compressed for eternity.  Such would be the result if they had jumped in the wrong direction.   But... no.  The ship was intact.  The crew were alive.  The talented personnel of the Challenger had done their job well.

"Flight control, report."

The officer filling in at flight control made a quick check before responding, "We have gained 81 AU from the event horizon, ready to engage thrusters."

Solluk leaned forward in his seat.  "Engage thrusters, maximum output.  Tactical, angle shields, launch torpedoes for explosive boost."

The Challenger surged forward, now soaring back towards the singularity she had so recently leaped away from.  The slingshot maneuver was initiated, and she gained speed on approach that she would expend on the far side...

Twelve Hours Later...
"Captain's Log, Stardate... Computer, notate stardate here.

A simple transport of scientists to a conference became an unexpectedly harrowing close-encounter with a black hole.  Part of the fault for this misadventure was mine.  I did not order proper security precautions during the VIP visit.  It is not a mistake I intend to repeat.

It is too easy to imagine that the citizens of the Federation are evolved beings who have moved beyond petty frailties.  Ego.  Sorrow.  Desperation.  It was a potent cocktail in the mind of Doctor Kwel.   Proof, perhaps, that we have not truly evolved past our petty natures, but have merely created a bubble for ourselves where we can pretend such motivations no longer move us.  It is a bubble that was pierced when Kwel lost his wife, and then the wound festered amidst professional ridicule.  It all serves as an uncomfortable reminder that it is only a fragile soap-bubble wall that separates us from our own nightmare selves.

We are now enroute to the conference at maximum sustainable warp.  I have reached out to Starfleet, and they will have a Deep Space Tug meet us there, to tow us to a proper starbase for repairs.  Not only are the impulse engines completely destroyed, but the hull has likely sustained innumerable stress fractures due to our exposure to an extreme gravity environment.  Never mind the unknown byproducts of the coaxial Warp jump itself.

The sad irony is that we managed to prove coaxial warp might work... but Starfleet is unlikely to pursue the technology further.  The stain of Doctor Kwel's unlawful actions will taint this technology.  R&D is more likely to remember that we were stranded next to a black hole, but forget that we also escaped one.  Starfleet has touched on promising technologies before.  Technologies which became shrouded in controversy, and consequently abandoned.  There is a reason we do not ride spore networks through the void.  There are precious few who even know that we once dared to attempt such a thing.

No... the warp development group will go with something deemed safe.  Probably a minor refinement of warp drive.  In a few years, they may add another 9 to the current warp decimal.  But we will not get the revolution that only comes thanks to bold thinkers making bold strokes.

In Doctor Kwel's desperation to prove his dead wife's technology... he only served to condemn it.  And himself.

I can't help but feel a sense of failure in all of this, despite surviving it.

The future seems just a touch dimmer than before.

End Log."