NationStates Jolt Archive

The Orbital Deep Space Platform, known within the Confederal Deep Space Agency simply as “the docks,” was in geosynchronous orbit over Lutherstadt. It was a large modern space station capable of docking some of the CDSA’s handful of interstellar vessels. It was also used for the last phase of the construction of a new ship. After the major parts and components were constructed elsewhere, the basic frame would be assembled at the docks and then the various components installed. It was not a common process because the Confederated Peoples was not a space faring nation nor was it a nation with a technological base which gave any real support to interstellar travel. In fact, 90% of the CDSA’s equipment ultimately had a foreign or even alien origin and, for fractal reasons not completed understood, it could not be integrated into the basic technological infrastructure of the nation or even reproduced at any sort of scale.

That was part of what was so impressive, to Confederals at least, about the large yet sleek ship now docked on the Platform. The Sofia was the first FTL capable ship manufactured entirely in the Resurgent Dream. It was a symbol of the nation’s ability to defend itself against the more exotic threats in the universe and of the potential end of security dependence on space-faring powers.

It was why the President of the Confederated Peoples was watching the ship from the Platform. James Keech, now captain of the Sofia, had just left the ceremony with her, his senior officers and other dignitaries. He had also just met some of his senior officers, including the Xirniumite astronaut who would be accompanying the Confederals on their mission of exploration. Unlike the Xirniumites themselves, however, Keech would be careful of other people’s claims throughout the mission. At least, he certainly planned to try.

Ensign Parfen Chaikovsk also had no intention of getting into any pointless disputes. He had accessed the maps of Sol available to the Confederals and had plotted a course through international space and space to which Confederal ships were easily granted access, such as that controlled by friendly or allied nations. It was still a relatively direct course. Sol was crowded but it was also an area of great commerce. It did no one any good to render it impassable.

Of course, the fact that the Confederals were not looking for conflict did not mean that they were not looking to contact new life forms. Lieutenant Nolitha Behndy was the specialist in that area. She had a doctorate in xenolinguistics and had access to advanced software and recording equipment designed to aid in the translation of previously undiscovered languages.

The rest of the staff were equally qualified and equally prepared for their own duties aboard the ship. Keech also got the impression that they shared his enthusiasm. For many of the cultures Keech had encountered, FTL travel was almost routine but for the Confederals the stars were still viewed with the same wonder that Keech liked to think Thales must have felt when he first gazed up at them and began to work his complex equations. He smiled to himself as he settled down into his command chair, turning to Chaikovsk. He knew that the man already had a very detailed course laid in and he knew exactly what it entailed. Still, the moment had a certain drama, “Second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning.”

As the engines started, a faint humming sensation could be felt through the ship’s hull. The Sophia pulled away from the docks and began making its way through the Sol system. The superluminary drive couldn’t be safely used while still this deep in the sun’s gravity well so several days at sub-light speed would be required before the Sophia would actually begin her interstellar voyage proper. Keech had, of course, been out here several times before. Still, he couldn’t help but grin. Space was always a wonder for him.

Chaikovsk worked quietly on his console, steering the ship through one of the most crowded places in the universe, the area immediately surrounding Earth. It was also, of course, densely packed with fractal phenomena which could were only rarely directly experienced on the surface of the planet. Some of the readings picked up by the ship’s sensors simply made no sense. Others contradicted one another. The navigational program was designed to filter out some of the strange readings in order to allow the ship to function normally. However, Chaikovsk still had to carefully adjust both the program and the sensors in order to prevent any of the abnormalities from damaging the ship or the reality in which it existed.

Behndy was likewise busy at work at her station. There was a great deal of communications traffic around Earth. A lot of it consisted of secure and encrypted channels used for security purposes by various nations. Most of it was open traffic that just had nothing at all to do with the Sophia or her mission. However, a great deal of it dealt with entry and exit protocols for various claimed regions of space, coordinating space traffic to avoid accidents, potential current hazards and the like. Behndy was filtering these through an automatic translator programmed in 754 different forms of communication. For the moment, she was simply listening. Keech knew that that meant she hadn’t heard anything which had any direct bearing on the mission.

Keech smiled and rose from his seat. The artificial gravity felt strange. It was, of course, technology outside the fractal paradigm in which the Confederated Peoples primarily existed and Keech had done almost all of his previous space travel in more traditional shuttles where weightlessness prevailed. He took a moment to adjust. It was an odd sensation, not quite like standing on solid Earth. It reminded him faintly of the few times he’d been on an actual ship at sea.

“Amazing, isn’t it, sir?” Chaikovsk asked. “You wouldn’t even know we’re in space.”

Keech smirked faintly, clasping his hands behind his back as he approached the other man’s station, “I always know when I’m in space, Ensign. How’s she coming?”

“Steady, sir,” the helmsman said, making a small adjustment to his controls, “Everything is going essentially as planned thus far. We are on our anticipated trajectory.”

“Good, good,” Keech said. He made the rounds of the bridge, briefly speaking to each of the other officers, getting their impressions, asking about their progress at whatever task they were then engaged in. It was a casual, friendly process but also a rather commanding one. Keech needed a feel for every system and crew member aboard his vessels. After all, he would have essentially no back-up on a mission to an entirely unknown star.