NationStates Jolt Archive

Space. The Final Frontier. These are the Voyages of the starship West Virginia.

The miniature red craft popped out of hyperdrive somewhere in the Arcturus system. It was possibly one of the strangest craft to ever visit it. The CSS West Virginia was styled by it’s captain to look like a traditional pickup truck – bright-red, plastered with stickers, and with a pair of mock-up ‘horns’ (sensors/phaser emitters). The theme expanded even into the interior of the ship – the bridge had a set of fuzzy dice, and a decorative gun rack behind the captain’s chair (mind you, the man-portable Hellbore in it was not in the slightest decorative).

The captain of the West Virginia was currently sitting in his seat, perusing the results of the primary sensor sweeps of the system. Then he turned to the Science Officer:

“Lieutenant Abdullah, kin yo' explain t'me our interess in this hyar system? Yo' haf told me thet th' senso' sweeps indicut sumpin thet was of interess to yo' – but as of now ah do not unnerstan' whuffo' we is har. It'd be nice eff'n yo' explained it t'me an' t'mah crew.”

The young man threw the hair back from his pointed, tanned ears, and smiled. “As you see right here,” – he pointed to a small square on the map that the captain had apparently missed, - “our sensors indicate that a gravitic discharge of what seems to be an artifical nature has occurred in the area. We believe that this could be a sign of a local civilisation – or of a totally new natural phenomenon. Either way, the Confederacy will benefit hugely.”

“Ah see. does yo' estimate th' distance t'th' locashun of th' discharge t'be fum whar we are?”

The Khristian pondered for a second. “Approximately six light-hours, Captain McCoy.”

Captain Earl Ray McCoy smiled.
“Mighty fine. Ah see we kin’t git thar via STL. Ensign Crusher, take us t'hyperdrive.”
And then, the small yet vessel powered up

OOC: Please post in the OOC thread before posting here, or TG me.

Ur-Quan Science Division - Arcturus Prime

Qirik-Quan, head of Science Division, examined the statistical readout on the VidScreen in front of him. He read the report twice before leaning his enormous bulk backwards to resume his position over the steaming control pit.

According to the report, Arctic Science Station Zenna had detected an unusual gravimetric disturbance eminating from Arcturus Prime's second moon, Zo'Quen. A moon that had been considered geothermically and electromagnetically dormant for over 30,000 years.

Interesting, mused the Ur-Quan scientist, and certainly worthy of some attention. The venerable Ur-Quan, keyed a few commands on his command chairs VidCon, and after a few moments highlighted the Hierarchy Science Vessel "Lonely Teacher".

The "Teacher" was currently involved in research around Arcturus 5, the enormous Gas Giant at the edge of the system, but was perfectly equipped to investigate this phenomena.
Qirik-Quan opened communications to the "Teacher" and began to relay details of this new objective to her Captain.

Arcturus Space - Outer Reaches

The Patrol ship "Ruthless Efficiency" altered course to intercept this unscheduled visitor to the Arcturus system. Her pilot, Death 903, regarded the scanner readouts with mild curiosity. An unusual design to be sure, although the vessel clearly posed no obvious threat.

Standard Hierarchy procedure when approaching unknown vessels used to involve the deployment of high energy plasma beams. However, over recent millennia, the Ur-Quan had adopted a far more "diplomatic" approach to contact with alien species.

"Attention Interloper", began the Ur-Quan warrior, "you have entered Hierarchy space, state your species and intent"

CSS West Virginia, Arcturus Space Outer Reaches

Captain McCoy blinked in surprise as he looked at one of the auxiliary screens of the craft. According to all reports, this system was uninhabited - and uninhabitable, to boot. What in the seven hells was this craft doing here – and what was this craft, anyway? McCoy turned to the crew.

Reverend, ackivate phaser emitter in senso' mode, ah's hankerin' yo' t'scan an' identify this hyar craf' fo' me, please. Ensign, please brin' thet thin' on visual as soon as yo' kin – an' be ready t'hail them on mah comman'. Don’t hail them yet, though – ah's hankerin' t'be in th' knows about whut they is fust. Make it so, fellas.

The priest/weapons officer smilled happily as his six slick, metallic cybernetic arms came into motion. For a science vessel, the West Virginia was disturbingly well-armed – well, all Allanean ships were disturbingly well-armed. As of now, one of the officer’s arms moved swiftly to a lever somewhere above his head and pulled it down. The large globe of the phaser emitter flickered into life, as the device entered work in its secondary function – that of a powerful active sensor, scanning what the Allaneans did not yet know was the Ruthless Efficiency.

And then, the signal came back. The ensign lifted his head from the various small screens at his positions, and said, with more than a slight tinge of excitement in his voice:

Captain McCoy, sir! They’re hailing us, sir! Should I bring it on-screen?

For a frew seconds, before anything could happen, the entire crew of the West Virginia erupted into cheers. The Ur-Quan would not know it, of course, but in Allanea, any ship crew who encountered a new alien civilisation was in for a generous cash award once they returned.

Once the crew calmed down, Captain McCoy spoke again: Most excellent. Reverend, turn down thet ackive senso' – thar’s no need in it fo' now. Ensign Crusher, kin yo' please brin' th' signal on screen once yo'’re done hoppin' about th' room an' screamin' “Yeah! Yeah! We did it!”? Why, thank yo', Ensign Crusher. Make it so.

And so the Allaneans first met the Ur-Quan. It remained to hope it would hurt neither of them… much.

The USS (Ultraspeshul Scientificatory Shyp) Shiny Wotnots, to cowardly go where no Goblin has gone before

Da Rokki Playz, Asteroid field in the Combined Goblin Collective's Outer Sisteems

"All sisstems iz reddy boss."

"Roito...led's go!"

A green and rather grubby finger pressed down on the Big Blue Button, twirled a dial on the Big Yellow Dially Ting that surrounded the Big Yellow Button, and a hammer was liberally applied to the Computarial Navigatori Consool.

The Goblins on the Commandin' Dekk grabbed hold of their chairs and whooped and shouted as the acceleration kicked in. A little needly on a grubby dial swung past the Goblin equivilent of Mach 1, then Mach 2, Mach 3 and so on, until it finally hit SupaSpeed with a "Ding!".

The Shiny Wotnots zoomed off, vanishing from sight with a "pop" that could, somehow, even be heard in space. The Shyp was a typical design...in other words, it vaguely resembled a large junkheap with engines and guns. Lots of guns. Goblins like guns, and tend to subscribe to their usual attitudes when building Shyps with guns - quantity over quality! This particular example was perhaps seven hundred metres long, most of which was cargo bay, and had a rather large crew (although this is far from unusual with Goblins).

Rather than using warp, bending space or any strange technical achievements, Goblin Shyps simply went really fast and, since the Goblins wholeheartedly believed that their Shyps could do this, they did. After a while, the Navigatori Consool started beeping a countdown. Captain Chayrbakk Shinygrabber stood ready. At the final "Bleeeeeeep" he yanked the plug out of the wall socket, pulling the Shyp to an immediate halt.

Arcturus System

The Captain and Naviagatorererer looked at the Computerial Reedouts.

"Dis is nub da Diggin' Site."

"Nub, boss."

"Shall weez go an' tri agin?"

"Roito."

Captain Shinygrabber looked at one of the screens as the Naviagatorererer starting preparing the Shiny Wotnots.

"Oooh...shiny...Stop naviagatorin' we'z gut usses somefink intererererestin'. Moov da Shyp furwads!"

Arcturus System Outer Reaches

“Captain McCoy, I see another incoming ship, of quite an interesting design. They’re entering the system as I speak, it seems we’re headed in the same direction as they are.” – reported Ensign Crusher as he looked up from his sensor readout screens. “What should I do, Captain McCoy?”

The captain blinked at Ensign Crusher, spitting out commands: “Bring it on my screen!” It was done, and after he saw the ship-scanning analysis he blinked. “Wow… seems to be pretty well-armed, ain’t it? Bring ‘er on visual, Ensign Crusher!”

“Aye, Captain!”

“Doesn’t seem t'be of familiar design – an' it isn’t similar in enny way t'th' fust one. Okay, lads, hail thet one too – it seems thet we haf arned us t'other lovely reward, cuss it all t' tarnation. Got t'love th' Naval Service.”

And again, cheers broke out in the crew quarters of the West Virginia. They were most definitely on a roll.

[[Ok, computer finally sorted out so I can log on accounts other than Isam!]]

"Bozz! We'ez gettin' an' 'ail!"

"Ale? Week stuff...."

"Nub, an 'ail....H-A-L-E"

"Ohhh, an 'ail. Why din'tcha say so?"

"Surry Bozz"

"Roight!"

Captain Chayrbakk Shinygrabber twirled a few dials - mostly for fun, but a few of them were actually relevent - and took a long drink from his Big Captain Mug and leaned back in his Big Captain Chair. Then he pressed the Big Green Button, activating the Radio-o-o-o Transmiterrer.

"'Allo? Dis is Captain Chayrbakk Shinygrabber uv da USS Shiny Wotnots uv da Mitey and Strong an' Green CGC. Hoo izzez yez?"

He pressed the button again.

"Verri diplomiatic bozz."

"Tanks."

Meanwhile, the Shiny Wotnots was heading toward the site of the reasonably impressive readings, the crew eager to find something shiny to take home.

Aboard the CSS West Virginia

“Captain, the strange ship is headed towards the source of the gravitic distortion – it seems we are not the only ones interested.” – said Ensign Crusher, as he shook some dust off the shoulder of what was formerly an exotic non-regulation lycra uniform – “Oh, and Sir, they’re hailing us.”

“Mighty fine then, insign, as enny fool kin plainly see. Brin' it on screen.”

“I can’t sir. It’s not a video signal. It’s one of those radio transmissions, old as hell and just as reliable.”

The hail was received, and very soon, an answer was prepared: “ Wal, howdy thar, Cappain Shinygrabber. Me, I’m Cappain McCoy of th' CSS Wess ole Virginny, of th' Confederate States Stellar Navy. I’m hyar t'investigate th' gravitic disto'shun. Whut in tarnation kin yo' please tell me of yer goals in this hyar system?”

Then, the CSS [i]West Virginia turned and made full speed towards the distortion – while remainign in normal space - just as it awaited the Goblin and Ur-Quan responses.

Captain Shinygrabber listened to the incoming message.

"Well, dat chappy cud ulmust be a Gobbo from da Sitay, speeks rite proper, 'e does."

Meanwhile, the Goblin Shyp moved unsteadily toward the disturbance, and the Goblin Captain hit the Big Green Button again.

"Pleezed ta meet ya, Captain McCoy. In dis systeem? We'ez lookin' fer shiny tings and scientificatorary discoerererereez, cuz we'ez a scientificatorary shyp."

Within the shyp itself, dozens of Goblins were recording and analysing the data received from peculiar instruments, setting more instruments up and looking at the newer readings.

Captain McCoy took only half a minute to decipher the hidden meaning of the Goblin message - which really is a credit to his good wit and skill at languages. The Confederate Naval Academy [C.N.A.] had taught it’s officers well – and they would most certainly be proud of him on that moment.

’Scientists, eh? Great! Fry mah hide! We’re hyar fo' basically th' same reason – though we probably'd prefer t'wo'd it a bit diffruntly, but thet’s multiculturalism fo' yo'. We’re hyar t'splore th' source of th' gravitic disturbance as fine. Follerin' yo' t'th' disturbance point.‘

Ur-Quan Science Division - Arcturus Prime

Qirik-Quan closed communications and settled back above his control pit. The Captain of the Ur-Quan science vessel "Lonely Teacher" was a close friend of his and had been more than willing to accommodate his request.

The gravimetric disturbance around Zo'Quen was a most unusual phenomena. Could it be artificial in nature? The head of Science Division dared not hope for such a startling possibility, but even if the phenomena was natural in cause, it would surely highlight some new scientific threads in exogeology that had hitherto been unexplored….fascinating…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Science Vessel "Lonely Teacher"

Captain Qo-Quen issued the orders for the "Teacher" to come about.

"New heading Con", he began "Zero-Five Point Zero-One Mark one. Maximum sub-light."

"Yes Sir", came the immediate response from the smaller Ur-Quan manning the control station at the front of the bridge. "Estimated time to coordinates approximately 98 minutes", he continued.

"Confirmed Sub-Lieutenant", replied Qo-Quen as he began to examine the long range telemetry of Zo'Quen…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arcturus Space - Outer Reaches

The Patrol ship "Ruthless Efficiency" noted the encroachment of yet another intruder into Ur-Quan space.

"Attention all alien vessels, this is the Hierarchy ship "Ruthless Efficiency", you will immediately alter course to the following coordinates which I am transmitting. Once there you will power down your engines and await further instructions."

Death 903 then transmitted the coordinates of Star Base Beta orbiting the dead moon of Zo'Quen.

"Compliance is mandatory", muttered the pilot while assuming an escort position.

As if to stress the need for compliance on this matter the light cruiser "Crime And Punishment" de-cloaked three hundred spatials away from the "Ruthless Efficiency" and the Arcturus systems new "guests".

(OOC: Apologies for the delay, RL has been intruding a lot at the moment!)

Captain McCoy blinked in amazement as the messages from the Ur-Quan ship came in.

“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Ensign Crusher, whut in th' seven hells is this? Do they be hankerin' us t'–“

The ensign shrugged as he looked at the screen: “I believe, Captain, that they want us to turn off our engines and talk to them. Seem reasonable to me, Sir.”

McCoy shifted colors from basic human to dark red, and then back again, several times. He stopped at a strange pinkish tint as he said:

“Make it so, son.”

The "Lonely Teacher" - Zo'Quen Orbit

"Sir!" exclaimed Lieutenant Ur-Qazz. "There seems to be an energy build up below the planets surface!"

Captain Qo-Quen eased his tentacled bulk over the control pit and viewed the data readout. "Hmmm, this is becoming increasingly odd. Does it pose a risk to the ship Lieutenant?"

"Not at present levels sir, but the readings are sporadic and seem prone to fluctuate with no indicators….."

At that moment, and without warning, a massive graviton beam suddenly lanced across the inner solar system from deep within Zo'Quen. Powerful enough to knock out the electronics systems of the "Lonely Teacher" as well as those of any ship unfortunate enough to be close to it's lancing path through space…

The "Lonely Teacher", electrical systems aflame and hull buckled from the gravitations stress, began to spiral down towards the dead moon below…

The "Crime And Punishment" - Arcturus Space

"Escort position confirmed sir", indicated the Ur-Quan at the Con

"Communications established, it seems they wish to talk my Lord", stated the Comms officer - turning slightly in his seating pod to address Death 98, the Commander of this heavily armed Patrol Cruiser.

Death 98 extended his tentacles across the trophy pit beneath him, taking a moment to examine the myriad bones. It seemed rather unlikely that he would be adorning the pit with any more alien remains this day…

"Sir, Navigation here, there seems to be some sort of gravitic displacement approaching!"

"A weapon?", responded the overlord, suddenly eager once more.

"Unknown sir, but it is on a collision course with us….."

The "West Virginia" - Arcturus Space

“Oh my God! It’s coming right at us! What in the seven hells is that thing, Captain?!” – screamed Ensign Crusher, poking at one of the sensor screens of the West Virginia.

The weapons officer rushed into position without order, engaging cybernetic links that linked him to the turrets and arms mounts of the Virginia, even as it became evident that weapons would do little good against the monstrous distortion that now approached the ship.

The Ferengi Engineering Officer let forth a scream of abject anguish as he hopped from his chair and hid behind it, as if the leather covers would protect him from the oversized object – if that was what it was.

And then Captain McCoy’s voice broke through the havoc [i]Attenshun alien vessels, this hyar is th' CSS Wess ole Virginny. Given th' approachin' gravitic disto'shun we aim t're-engage th' engines an' partake in evasive maneovahs in five seconds. We suggess yo' does th' same. On over.[/ I]

OOC: I have talked with Allanea and have approval to post here. Just to avoid confusion, my ships are actually starting off in the Sol system, but will shortly find their way into Arcturus space as well.

IC:
In the far outskirts of the Sol system, two Squornshelan patrol vessels were in the middle of a routine cruise. They were a pair of Dagger class patrol ships, each 100 m long. They were lightly armed, with four laser canons, two railguns and one antimatter torped battery, comprising eight tubes, totaling the weapons on each ship. To make up for this, they were very fast, with a low total mass for a ship of that size, and with two powerful engines that allowed them to outrun and outmanuever most other ships.

These particular vessels were the SSV Cutlass and the SSV Scimitar, sweeping the Oort Cloud, a largely empty area of space at the ery edge of Sol's gravitational influence, for any signs of intelligent life, or of any interesting phenomena. Commander Ernst Bendhavn of the Cutlass reclined in his captains chair, silently bemoaning the circumstances which had brought him to this godforsaken place. When he had first recieved the rank of commander, he had been given the position of first officer on a powerful Guardian class heavy star destroyer, a 3000 meter long monster capable of laying siege to a planet. However, after only a few hours on board, he and his commanding officer had realized that they had a serious personality clash, and when that Captain went on to be promoted to Rear Admiral, it was he who personally signed the order placing the Cutlass and her brand new commander on a 6 month patrol.

He was roused from his fuming by the voice of the young ensign manning the long range sensor station. "Sir," Ensign Pedro Sanchez looked up from his console, "I'm picking up an odd reading from ahead of us sir."
Bendhavn shot an annoyed look at the Ensign, "What do you mean by 'an odd reading' Ensign, try to be more specific."
"I'm sorry sir, I've never seen anything like this before. There seems to be a sort of gravitational distortion ahead."
The navigational officer then spoke up, "Sir, something is very slightly altering our trajectory, as if there were a planet nearby."
Bendhavn pondered this for a moment then turned to speak to his communications officer. Just as he was about to speak, a strident tone sounded from her console, "The Scimitar is hailing sir."
"Put Ramsey through."
The rugged face of Commander Elwin Ramsey of the Scimitar appeared on the Cutlass's main screen. Ramsey, who was four months Bendhavn's senior, and thereby overall commander of the patrol spoke in a gravely voice, the kind that a grandfather tells 'When I was your age stories in'. "Our long range sensors and navigation have picked up and area of gravitational distortion ahead, have you also noted this?"
"Yes, we have just detected the distortion."
"We first noticed it a few minutes ago, we must be a bit closer than you are."

In standard Squornshelan patrol doctrine, the two ships had been cruising on parallel courses, about 10,000 km from one another. Bendhavn sent the bearings and coordinates that the distortion had been detected at, and a technician on the Scimitar quickly triangulated the data. By the computer's calculations, the area of distortion lay roughly one light hour from them. The two ships altered course to meet up, after which they set course for the area of distortion and engaged their hyperdrives, accelerating away into the distance and finally disappearing as they broke the light barrier.

The Cutlass and Scimitar about to jump to hyperspace:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/squorn/patrolship.jpg
(the backgrounds on DoGA are acting up, hence, space is blue now:rolleyes: )

IC:
After a short interval, the crews of the two Squornshelan vessels prepared for their reversion into realspace. The sensor crews stood at the ready to monitor the anomaly, and there was a palpable tension in the air. It was a feeling that came along with coming into contact with the unknown. Never before in thousands of patrols and any Squornshelan vessel found something like this.
Aboard the Cutlass, the young Lieutenant who was the pilot on duty began a countdown to reversion.
"Realspace reversion in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mark."
As she spoke the final word, there was a ripple in the unbroken shell of light that could be seen on the monitors. For a moment, the ship entered realspace as it dipped below lightspeed, a black field with dancing specks scattered across it blinked on the monitor, and then an acceleration that even the ships powerful inertial dampers couldn't cancel out caused the ship to lurch, and several standing crew members on the bridge stumbled. As they regained their footing, it was to a confusing sight. The main monitor once again displayed the featureless white/blue gleam of hyperspace. However, instead of seeming perfectly straight, as most hyperspace paths did, this one twisted and weaved like a roller coaster, causing the ship to pitch and roll wildly. Later it would be found that some 3 dozen crewmembers were injured by the unpredictable lurching, and one was killed when he slipped and fell down an open access hatch, plummeting 10 feet to the next deck, where he landed head first, snapping his neck.
In the meantime, the bridge crew was struggling to make sense of their bizarre situation. "Sensors, what can you tell me?" barked Bendhavn.
"Not much sir, we seem to be in hyperspace, and Scimitar is here with us. Our speed, position and course are unknown sir."
"We're going to hit a star at this rate, helm, drop us out of hypespace."
"I'm unable to sir, the hyperdrive doesn't seem to be activated at all sir."
"What do you mean by that?"
"According to the hyperdrive monitor instruments, we should be in realspace. I can't drop us out because the hyperdrive is already offline."
The Commander digested that bit of information for a moment before responding. "Well, unless anyone else has any ideas, we seem to be along for the ride, can we contact the Scimitar?"
"Affirmative sir, the hypercomm is still operational."

An hour or two later, the seniior officers of both ships were gathered in their respective briefing rooms, connected to one another by holocomm.
Commander Ramsey opened the meeting, "Well, no sense beating around the bush, everyone here know's the situation, I just want to know two things: how did this happen, and where are we headed?"
Bendhavn stood and spoke, "Two of my cew have a theory on this that may interest you sir." He seated himself and gestured at the two figures sitting next to him.
Lieutenant Petra Narol, the pilot who had been on duty at the time of the incident stood, along with Ensign Pedro Sanchez, who had been manning the sensor station.
"Sir, we believe we may have an explanation," Petra began, "According to the Cutlass's automate log, the ship decelerated to .9c, coming out of hyperspace as programmed. The hyperdrive subsequently entered into passive mode, awaiting it's next pair of coordinates."
Sanchez took over at this point. "Sensor logs corroborate this information, but three tenths of a second later, we have this." he gestured at an area of code on a printout he held in his hand. "A detected gravitational pull from directly ahead. We weren't in realspace long enough to get a reading on the strength of it, but it was powerful enough to drag us forward and accelerte us back above the speed of light. We then entered hyperspace, but normally, accelerating to lightspeed without the hyperdrive activated would result in instant disintegration. Something natuarally occuring acted, and is still acting as a stabilizing field."
He stopped and stepped back, allowing Petra, who was after all a senior officer to him, to finish the presentation. "Sir, it is our belief that we may have inadvertantly jumped into close proximity of a small singularity, and were subsequently pulled past the event horizon." She paused taking a deep breath to prepare for the audacious statement she was about to make. "I think we may have just proved the existence of wormholes."

A pregnant silence settled over the two rooms. Then surprisingly, Commander Ramsey smiled and stood. "That's as good an answer as I could have come up with, and it's likely a lot closer to the truth than most of us think. Whatever the cause of our little oddysey, we should be prepared for its end at any moment, back to the bridges with all of us."

Ramsey's order was not place a moment too soon. As Bendhavn was literally settling into his captain's chair, the Cutlass gave one final lurch, and, like some grotesque newborn, burst into realspace with her twin. After a split second of relief at the end of their ordeal, both bridge crews were siezed with horror as they saw their new surroundings on the main screen. Both 100m ships were clipping along directly for what looked for all the world like a bright red pickup truck hangin in space.

So I guess this is dead. . . . . .

In College, Yoda is. Post in the next two days, Yoda will.

“Holy mother of all that’s good and holy! Look at that, Captain McCoy!” – ensign Crusher screamed in abject amazement as he pointed at the radar screens – “There’s more alien vessels, right there, going for us at full speed!”

McCoy gave Crusher a stern look. “Steady there, son. We don’t actually know if it’s their full speed or not – they could well be capable of more acceleration power than we can possibly imagine, don’t ya reckon?’

The ensign nodded slowly. “Yes, Captain. I understand what you’re talking about. I guess we better do something about this – permission to venture an opinion, Sir?” – he smiled shily, looking at McCoy.

The Captain sighed. “Oh well. Hail these, too.”

Only later did the realization kick in he has just earned yet another reward.

"Take evasive action, roll 30 degrees port, full upward pitch, all discretionary power to directional thrusters."
The bridge leapt to Bendhavn's orders and the Cutlass rolled gracefully to the left, pulling up and away from the West Virginia. The Scimitar on the other hand, chose to dive below the West Virginia. The two patrol ships both gradually slowed to a stop and their crews began analyzing the situtation.

Aboard the Cutlass Commander Bendhavn's bridge crew was reporting information at breakneck pace.
"Sir, I have four bogeys on my scope, one is the one we almost hit, unknown design. . ."
"Sir we are being hailed by that first vessel."
". . . two more also of unknown design, one appears very primitive in design. . ."
"We'll let Ramsey do the talking, he's senior, I want to know more about these ships."
". . . . the third and fourth are also of unknown design. Basic scans of their technology indicate non Earth origin. That scan also indicates similar technology, it is probable that these two ships belong to the same race. The second vessel is also likely of non Earth origin."
"What do you mean non Earth origin?"
"There are elements of their technology that are completely unknown to our sensors in function and purpose, the larger vessel is also not using a standard antimatter reactor, it appears to have several significant differences to the models used in Squornshelan cruisers."
"Okay, enough on that for now, navigation, where are we?"
"Unknown sir, the constellations visible do not match any of our archived starcharts. The computer is currently searching for a match in the calculated charts."
"Hurry that up as much as possible, we need to get in contact with fleet command."
"Yes sir."

On the Scimitar Commander Ramsey quickly ordered quiet on the bridge so that he could recieve the incoming hail.
"This is Commander Elwin Ramsey of the Squornshelan Patrol Vessel Scimitar. Who are you and what is your origin?"

This is a scientific vessel. Repeat, scientific vessel. Our goal is to research the gravitic disturbance at coordinates X-Y-Z-Delta, to which we appear all to be inexorably drawn by this recent anomaly. Is anything known to you on the nature of this series of events that would be helpful to our research? West Virginia, over and out.

Commander Ramsey listened to McCoy's repsonse and spoke. "We long with our partner vessel the Cutlass were drawn into and through what we believe to have been a wormhole and were deposited at this location. Our point of origin was on the outskirts of the Sol system. Our navicomputer has been unable to match any star charts as of yet, can you tell us what our current location is?"

OOC: CHRIST! I was sure I responded.

IC:

"We're in the Arcturus system. Somewhere. We will page you the coordinates of the system related to Sol, but otherwise we can't really help - with the way this darn thing is dragging on us, we have no idea were we in the system proper."