NationStates Jolt Archive

The speeding courier ship and twin sun emblem of the United Valinon News Network reaches across the Nu-space network connecting Valinon, Falasmayon, New Ortaga, Knootoss, and several other nations near Valinor territory either in Alpha Centauri or Sol. Two newscasters sit at a desk bearing the same symbol wrought of gold and some blue-white quartz.
“Good evening, I am Max Kruger,” says the man on the left.
“And I am Francis Darby,” says the woman on the right.
Kruger looks at the comp-pad on the desk, “We have stunning news tonight from the Imperial Astrophysics Investigation Agency of the Imperial University and the Falas National Academy concerning the research into the theorized hyperspace wormhole junctions. And we take you now to Marisa Thane who is at a press conference that is about to begin on the campus of the Imperial University. Marisa?”
A second view appears and rapidly fills the whole visual input, “Thank you, Max. We have just a few more minutes here. Provost Zakharov has said that professors William Forstchen, IAIA, and Nbudekei Salazar, FNA, will be speaking shortly. As a matter of fact, they are now ready to speak.”
Marisa steps away, and the visual zooms in on two men taking seats at a hastily erected table draped in cloth bearing the complicated atom and embracing hooks of the Imperial University and the rising phoenix of the Falas National Academy.
“Professor Forstchen, Konrad Schellarde, INN,” says one of the reporters sitting in the audience, “what statement do you have to say on the matter that the University and the Academy have discovered actual wormhole junction termini?”
Forstchen looks at Salazar for a moment, and then turns back to the mike.
“Well, Mr. Schellarde, I would have no choice but to confirm those rumors as fact. After the better part of three and a half years of research and astromapping missions as a joint effort between the IAIA and the National Academy we have discovered no less than four separate wormhole junction termini in the Alpha Centauri system.”
Forstchen picks a small remote off the table and activates a hologram projection of the Alpha Centauri system.
“So far all four of the entrance points to these termini have been located between the orbits of Pholus and Proxima Centauri III. We have already sent University astromapping vessels through the ‘gravetic waves’ of two of these junctions. One leads to the Falas system known as Archangel and the other to the Yalta system of the Gregor Sector Alliance. We have two other mapping missions scheduled in the next three days to see where the exit point to the other two termini are located. Also our models and simulations hypothesize strongly that there may be as many as three to five other junctions inside the Alpha Centauri system. And before I bore you all with the technical details, I will turn this discussion over to Professor Salazar who is….shall we say far more precise and to the point than I can ever hope to be. Hopefully he can give you a more concise technical work out of the junctions.”

"Interesting", Galadriël sat back in her chair as she read the preliminary report.

"Indeed it is", commented the man in front of her. He was clad in a black corporate suit. "I do suggest we, well, the government, helps fund research."

Galadriël frowned. These weekly meetings were always about her giving funds, or tax cuts. "I am... not surprised by that suggeston", she said aristocratically. "However I would like to make this a ... joined effort."

"Very well", the corporate figurehead replied. "500 million clean tax deductible, Fifty fifty? Usual arrangements?"

The elf nodded.


The government of the DDR of Knootoss and several corporate entities are willing to contribute up to 500 million euro's to research into wormhole junction termini, provided that the Knootian Information Technology and spacevessel production sectors are involved as contractors and any findings are shared.

Salazar smiles, "We'll I can at least tell you something of what we know about these wormholes.

"As most of you know a wormhole is a place where natural physics breaks down. Effectively this allows two points in space to exist in the same place at the same time, although I won't bore you with the physics of it. THis means that a ship using the wormhole can be instantly transported through the hole and across hundreds of light years of space. This holds the potential to revolutionize local space travel."

"These wormholes are naturally occurring so we cannot change their entry points or their termination points. We do know however, that Alpha Centauri seems to be some kind of junction for the wormholes. For example, a ship can enter the wormhole from Archangel, and travel to Alpha Centauri. It can then travel to the Gregor Sector from there. THe ship cannot however, travel from Archangel straight to Gregor, without passing through Alpha Centauri, making the Alpha Centauri System, effectively a junction where these wormholes come together."

"There does not seem to be any kind of drive requirements for a ship to use the wormhole. We have experimented with sending every kind of known space drive, from Impeller wedges, to standard ionic drives, and no matter what the drive system the ship seems capable of traversing the wormhole."

"When a ship passes through the hole. It temporarily destabilizes the hole for a time period directly corrsponding with the mass of the ship. The larger the vessel the longer the duration of the destabilization. There may be an upward limit to the amount of mass that the wormholes can transport at any one time, but we haven't had the opportunity to find that limit yet. We theorize tha tit might be in the area of 500 million tons of mass, and that would destabilize the wormhole for almost 2 hours, but we don't know yet, and it would be possible to send smaller masses through with significantly less destabilization time. our research ship massed approximately 560,000 tons and it destabilized the junction for only 9 seconds, so it should be possible to devise a system that would allow for simple and easy transit of the junction."

Salazar finished speaking and lokked back at Fortschen, a sif to invite him to add anything he thought was missing.

Forstchen nods at his colleague, "Thank you, Nbudekei, you summarized that far better than I could have. Our audience would have had to sit here for several days if I was allowed to ramble."
He smiles and a wave of quite laughter passes throughtout the room, "Does that answer your question, Mr. Schellarde?"
"Yes, Professor, it does. Thank you."
Another reporter raises his hand, and Forstchen points at him.
"Kyunei Ayat-ko, Outer Wires and 'Fax Services, Professors. Tell me, what implications will this have on the current geo-political situation in Alpha Centauri?"
Forstchen nods, and is silent for a moment, "Ms. Kyunei, I am not sure I am the most qualified to answer this question, but I will try my best. The dominating factor the junction will have on Alpha Centauri is economic. Near instanteous travel, even to only a few star systems initially, cuts down travel time to other nearby stars and increases the overall profits and markets that can be reached by the various corporations of the Proximan merchant marines. As for the geo-political situation, I am sure this will mean that the Nu-space network could be extended with greater ease than previously believed, and also it will no doubt have implications on overall defense and military spending due to where the junctions may lead us."
"Thank you, Professor."
Forstchen nods and points to another report, "Yes, Mr....?"
The conference goes on for a little over an hour with both Forstchen and Salazar taking various questions from the floor before finally excusing themselves.

**********

The government of the DDR of Knootoss and several corporate entities are willing to contribute up to 500 million euro's to research into wormhole junction termini, provided that the Knootian Information Technology and spacevessel production sectors are involved as contractors and any findings are shared.

Your donation is greaty appreciated. We are still treading unknown ground here, and although His Majesty, His Majesty's Government, the Falasmayon government, and several other various groups have granted us considerable leeway in regards to our budget, we are still somewhat constrained.
We will of course share all infomation with the KIT and the private corporations interested in expanding the commercial interests of the Knootian people. And we would also welcome representatives of the Knootian research and astrophysics community to join our efforts on the junction project.

Yours with highest regards,
Prokhor Zakharov
Provost Academician of His Majesty's Imperial University

Tag for IC post later.

[/i]*OOC: A tag, I'll try to work something in as an in character post later.*[/i]

The University of Cardona's Astrographic Survey Institute would like to donate the use of the gravitic survery vessel Plato to the junction mapping project, along with $50 million.

After carefully deliberation, Prokhor Zakharov reads over the letter he has dictated to the University of Cardona's Astrographic Survey Institute. There had been far more strictures placed on him in this response than there had been with the one to the Knootian government, mostly from the Office of Armada Intelligence, the Ministry of External State Security, and even pointed suggestions from Crown Prince Gustav himself, although that counted just as well as being from the mouth of the Emperor these days. His eyes go back to the paper.

We are gratious for the interests the University of Cardona has taken in our project and appreciate your support on this endeavor. Rest assured that your donation and the services of the Platowill be put to the best use possible to increase our knowledge of the wormhole junction terminii and the wormholes as a whole.
I personally look forward to further cooperation between the Imperial University and the University of Cardona.

Yours with highest regards,
Prokhor Zakharov
Provost Academician of His Majesty's Imperial University of Centauri

Zakharov lays the formal peice of paper down. He turns to Deputy Academician Jurgeman, the overall director of the IAIA, and clears his throat.
"Draft orders for the Plato once it arrives. We can at least operate it to investigate the Yaltan terminii of the junction since there were no restrictions placed on them."

**********

Meanwhile, in the Alpha Centauri star system, two Darkstar-class research and science vessels registered to the IAIA move toward the last two discovered, untraveled terminii of the Centauri Wormhole Junction. One is the IRS Fair Child and the other is the IRS Michael Farraday. They have cruised together from Proxima I until now, and now they accelerate away toward their differing terminals.
Twenty minutes later, the Fair Child vanishes across interstellar distances between junctions, and two minutes later the Farraday follows suit.

**********

Commander Robert Dugast, in the employ of the IAIA as master of the Fair Child breathes deeply inward and outward after the jolting sensation of simpling not existing for an finitessmal length of time. He looks up from his station, as he finishes taking a drink of water.
"Navigation, do we have a reading on where we are?" he says looking across the starscape filling the Fair Child's viewports.
"Fairy is still out on a calculation," says the young woman manning the navigation system. "But she did say that basic readings put us in the Gregor Sector area of space, and not in a GSA system either."
Dugast nods, and turns to another member of the Child's crew, "Begin broadcasting our neutrality signal as a research vessel on the IAIA/Falas project investigating the wormhole junction terminii phenomena. Four second intervals."
The standardized recording begins to broadcast from the vessel's complicated array of transmitters in several different forms and languages.
Then the image of Fairy, the ship's AI appears before Dugast.
"I have our location, and I don't think you will be pleased," she said looking with eyebrows raised at Dugast.
"And...."
"Gregor," the AI says, and a hiss of inhaled breath escapes from Dugast. "To be precise between the fifth and sixth planets orbiting Gregor primary. I expect that we will be receiving company soon."

The IRS Fair Child & IRS Michael Farraday (http://www.mst3kinfo.com/darkstar/ships1.html)

"New contact! It just appeared out of nowhere Sir." Crusader's tactical officer rattled off the coordinates of the ship that had just popped into existence, and the destroyer radically diverged from its original course on an intercept with the new ship.

"Transponder identifies it as a Valinor science ship."

"Send the standard challenge, continue on intercept course until this is worked out."

"We are being queried," Dugast swallows with effort at the tech's words. "A standard Verniian challenge. How should we respond?"
"Give me the comm," Dugast says, the man nods. A few minutes later, after composing himself, Dugast activates the comm channel.
"Verniian destroyer, this is the IRS Fair Child of the IAIA. We are here as part of the continuing investigation into the wormhole junction terminii phenomena, and have recently made a translation from Alpha Centauri to Gregor. At this time we request that we be allowed to return to Alpha Centauri, or that we be allowed immediate access to our ambassador mission in Cardona."
He cuts the comm, and turns to the AI's avatar, "Fairy, get a return course set back through the wormhole. If that destroyer starts to get an itchy trigger finger we will duck back through and send a transmission back to IAIA CentCoord about where this terminii goes. And also one to Sanctuary."
"Calculating."

mmmmmmmmmmmm pie!!!!!!!!

"Fairy Child, welcome to the Gregor system. Please hold your course while we consult Gregor Defense Command about the situation." A tight beam transmission was sent to Bastion, and a few minutes later the destroyer again commed the science ship.

"Fairy Child, you are clear to return to Alpha Centauri."

Dugast breaths a deep sigh of relief, "Thank God. Fairy, get us that course home now! And prepare a full flash broadcast to the Nu-space network as soon as we reentery Alpha Centauri."
"Of course," says the AI. "Who knows what I would do myself if you were vaped."
Dugast manages a weak smile, even as the Fair Child rapidly accelerates toward the terminus, and eight minutes later leaves the Gregor system behind.
When the science vessel reappears in Alpha Centauri, a priority communique races to IAIA CentCoord and to the Star Armada's central command at Sanctuary. Less than an hour later, an entire dreadnought squadron arrives near the newly discovered hostile terminus, and rapidly begins to sned minelayers out to lay a temporary network of defenses around the terminus.

Each of Vernii's orbital forts goes to General Quarters, bringing up their shields, weapons, and EW systems. Home Fleet follows a few minutes later, and Vernii's orbitals disappear behind a wall of electronic "fuzz".

A dreadnought squadron and it's attendant escort warships breaks away from orbit, heading to the terminus at 80% of it's maximum acceleration to take up defensive station.