– Watedia, Nimath 13, 8034 –
“I’d forgotten how relay-dependent AR glasses are…”
“Tch,” Davídrius snorted, “Who’d’ve thought the Earthians weren’t even
as advanced at Treséd.”
“I don’t think relay points are good indicators of technological
advancement,” Siyuakén countered, “They weren’t even all that common in
Nimalian space before fifty or sixty years ago.”
“But, still…” Kevérin frowned as he glanced around the waiting room
they were all sitting in, “Ever since we got here yesterday I can’t help but
notice how completely lacking the information feed is.”
“I’m surprised you’re even lookin’ at the feed,” Davídrius smirked,
“What happened to that game you were playin’, eh?”
“Dessert Destruction is just as relay-dependent as everything else,”
Kevérin sulked, “Tch. Never thought I’d complain about always-online DRM.”
“We aren’t here to play games, anyways,” Kaoné commented.
“Aw, c’mon. You’re the one who introduced me to it!”
“And I’m starting to regret it…” the Materiatechnic sighed.
“With a name like ‘Dessert Destruction’, I would too,” Davídrius snorted,
“Really? I think even the Earthians come up with better names.”
“That’s not even close to true,” Kevérin immediately refuted,
“Everything from Earth is just a sequel. Or a sequel of a sequel.”
“…Well, you ain’t wrong there. You’d think a series with the word
‘final’ in it would’ve wrapped up before iteration fifty…”
“Guys,” Kaoné frowned, “We aren’t here to bash the Earthians, either.”
“Keh. Well it ain’t my fault that they’re lackin’ in
the creativity department.”
“Who’s lacking in the creativity department?”
“Guah–?!” Davídrius spun around as a large man opened the office door
and stepped through. He wore a field uniform with several emblems and insignia
attached to various locations on his chest and shoulders. “Uh…” the
Introtechnic spluttered, “That, uh…”
“You’ll have to excuse Davídrius. He’s a little prone to talking before
he thinks,” Siyuakén spoke up, prompting the Introtechnic to glare at her.
“I… see,” the man responded, glancing between the two Chaotics
doubtfully. “…I take it you’re the team from Nimalia?”
“Yeah, that’s us,” Kevérin stood up and approached the man, “We’re Hero
Machina, the newest Chaotic team of the soon-to-be formed Nimalian Systems
Defense. I’m the Commanding Officer, Transfer Captain Kevérin Tyrion.”
“Nice to meet you, Transfer Captain,” the man shook Kevérin’s hand,
“I’m Captain Matthew Lead of SERRCom.” He then looked at the three remaining
members of HM. “When we sent word for assistance, though, well… we were
expecting someone with…”
“More experience?” Davídrius drawled.
“…You could say that,” Captain Lead replied, “The current situation is
unprecedented, if I’m to understand galactic history correctly. I don’t think
it’s something that a new group of Chaotics would be able to help with.”
“All we were told was that you had a problem, and we were supposed to
go check it out,” Kaoné commented.
“Did you tell Commander Nikéyin what the problem was when you asked for
help?” Kevérin questioned, “If you didn’t, well – we’re what you get. Sorry if
we’re not who you wanted.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. I meant no offense,” Lead apologized, “You’re right,
this is our fault. But we’re dealing with an extraordinary situation; I hope
you understand our secrecy.”
“If you’d explain exactly how this whole thing is ‘extraordinary’, it’d
help me ‘understand your secrecy’ a whole lot better,” Davídrius pointed out.
Lead nodded, and then gestured for the Chaotics to enter the office he
was standing in front of. “You’re right, of course. Step inside and I’ll
explain the situation to the best of my ability.”
The members of Hero Machina each stepped into the office. Kevérin and
Kaoné took the two guest chairs as Lead moved around to sit in the desk chair,
leaving Davídrius and Siyuakén to stand in the back. Once the door had closed
all of the way, Lead began to address the Chaotics.
“First of all,” he started, “…I didn’t get all of your names.”
“Oh, right,” Kaoné perked up, “I’m Lieutenant Kaoné Densalin.”
“I’m Lieutenant Siyuakén Wanléon.”
“An’ I’m Davídrius Wrikax.”
“No rank?” Lead questioned.
“I ain’t a soldier.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
“It’s a long story,” Kevérin quickly cut in. Davídrius scowled, but
didn’t attempt to speak over the Pyrotechnic.
“Alright then,” Lead commented, glancing over at a clock on his wall,
“I’ll have to ask for the story another time, though I trust you have your
reasons. Now, as for why you’re here… well, to put it simply: a Battlecruiser
recently appeared over this colony, Sunova.”
“A Battlecruiser?” Kaoné echoed, “Who’s commanding it?”
“What class is it?” Kevérin questioned, “What about the racial
profile?”
“That’s the thing, we don’t know,” Lead replied, “And when I say
appeared – I don’t mean that it jumped here by FTL drive. You should know Earthian
space is isolated from Transpaces.”
“Well, how did it get here, then?”
“That’s the thing. It simply… appeared.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Wait a minute,” Davídrius gave the Earthian Captain an odd look, “Are
you sayin’ that it just…popped into existence?”
“As far as we can tell, yes, it did.”
“Bullshit. Shit doesn’t just defy the laws of physics like that–“
“Davídrius,” Siyuakén cut him off warningly.
“…Tch,” he scowled again, crossing his arms irately.
“What makes you think it just appeared like that?” Kaoné questioned,
pointedly ignoring the Introtechnic’s comment.
Lead glanced at Davídrius uneasily before turning to Kaoné. “I have to
admit, I’m not completely certain myself. We’ve hailed it and received no
response. When it first appeared, the shields and life support were offline.
Luckily, there was a Frigate in the system, so we sent in a small team to check
out the ship. They were able to turn life support on, and since then we’ve had
a small squad stationed there.”
“…You managed to turn on the life support… of a ship type that you’ve
never seen before?” Kevérin questioned incredulously.
“Which is yet another reason for us to believe that it appeared out of
nowhere,” Lead stated, “the ship is of decidedly Earthian design. Everything
about it resembles our current ships, even though all our current ships are Frigates.
The mystery ship has the same design aesthetic, a similar layout, similar
systems, similar weaponry, and operates in almost the exact fashion I imagined
an Earthian-built Battlecruiser would operate.”
“Hmm… it’s not possible that some Earthian organization built the ship
without you knowing?” Siyuakén asked.
“Impossible,” Kevérin replied, “The Earthians don’t have interstellar
corporations like everyone else. SERRCom and DEDi are the only organizations
with authority over their colonies.”
“He’s correct,” Lead nodded, “There are plans in the works to start
leasing extrasolar colonies to private handlers, but for now it’s just SERRCom
running the show. Even then, there’s no way a military-grade ship was
built without us knowing, using our own technology.”
“Well this is actually kinda interesting, keheh,” Davídrius smirked,
“Dunno if we can do anything about it though.”
“No, I’ve learned my fair share about space-grade technology,” Kevérin
stated, “I might be able to help with some things.”
“Even if you can’t, there’s still an investigation planet-side that the
four of you could help with,” Lead replied, “but before we get to that, I want
to bring all of you to speak with the lead researcher on the project, Scott
MacTavish. I’m certain that he’ll be able to go into far more detail than I
can. He’s the one who requested Nimalian aid, afterall…”
“If you weren’t the one who requested aid, then why’re we talkin’ to
you?” Davídrius questioned as the Earthian Captain stood up and approached the
door.
“I wish I knew myself…” Lead sighed, opening the door and gesturing for
the Chaotics to follow him outside, “I’m just the middleman here, it seems.”
“You’re not in charge?” Kaoné asked.
“Ha! I’m only a Captain. I’ve got a long ways to go before I’m a
General. It sounds nice though… ‘General Lead’.” He then shook his head.
“Nevermind that. I’ll lead you to MacTavish.”
*
* *
“MacTavish.”
“…”
“…MacTavish?”
“…zzz…”
“Researcher MacTavish!”
“…zzzzzz…”
“Scott!!”
“Augh!!” The researcher jolted into a straight-up sitting posture, accidentally
shoving his chair away from his desk in the process and ramming into a
briefcase behind him, knocking it over and spilling all sorts of papers to the
floor. He glanced down at the papers in dismay before looking back at Captain
Lead. “O… oh, Cap’n. I was’n expectin’ ya here this early.”
“It’s mid-afternoon,” Lead deadpanned.
The researcher glanced over at the monitor sitting in front of where
his head had previously laid. “Well, I’ll be damned. Trust me, Cap’n, I did’n
sleep in on purpose. It’s just that…” he trailed off as he realized that a
group of four young adults were standing behind Lead. “…Um, who’re you?”
“We’re Hero Machina, of the Nimalian Systems Defense,” Kevérin stepped
forward, “We’re here to–“
“Oh! You’re here for the Battlecruiser!” the researcher’s face lit up,
“…Oi, I did’n know that Nimalian spacecraft technicians were so young!”
“They’re not actually technicians,” Lead corrected.
“But I do know some things about spacecraft,” Kevérin
cut in.
“Well that makes one of us,” Davídrius snorted.
The researcher stroked his scruffy beard for a moment. “…Eh, I suppose
I was’n very specific when I requested aid. Some knowledge is better than none,
though.” He extended his hand toward Kevérin. “Guess I should introduce myself.
I’m a SERRCom researcher and engineer, Scott MacTavish. You can call me Scott.”
The four members of Hero Machina went on to introduce themselves,
followed by Scott offering a brief explanation of his knowledge of space
technology while Davídrius speedily collected the papers laying around on the
floor and irately stuffed them back into the briefcase from which they came. By
the time the Introtechnic re-entered the conversation, Lead was explaining to
Scott what he had already told the Nimalians.
“So they know about the Battlecruiser then,” Scott stroked his beard
again, “…eh, guess there’s not much more to actually explain. It’s all
investigation from here on out.”
“You said that there’s a team up on the ship, right?” Kaoné glanced at
Lead, and then over at Scott. “What are they doing right now?”
“For now they’re just mappin’ the ship and tryin’ to gain access to all
of the systems,” Scott replied, “I was about to join them though, start lookin’
into the technology an see just how similar to our systems they really are. I
suppose Kevérin can join me there. Maybe you’ll be able to recognize somethin’
that I don’t, eh?”
“Maybe,” Kevérin nodded, “I’ll try my best to help.”
“I’ll go with you,” Kaoné volunteered, “I don’t know as much as you
about space ships, but I know my fair share. Tekdecé isn’t the only Nimalian
nation on the galactic stage, you know.”
“Well I’ll take all the help I can get!” Scott grinned, and then turned
to look at Davídrius and Siyuakén. “What about–?”
“I know jack-shit about space ships,” the Introtechnic stated.
“…Crudeness aside, I’m in the same boat,” Siyuakén sighed.
“The two of you can help with Captain Shepherd, then,” Lead suggested.
“What’s he doin’?” Davídrius questioned.
“Eh?” Scott turned to Lead in surprise, “You didn’t tell them about
Shepherd?”
“What, is what he’s doing related to the Battlecruiser?” the Captain
responded in confusion, “…I knew there was some investigation going on that
he’s a part of, but he never said it was related to the ship.”
“Ah, well then, you’re all missin’ an important piece of the puzzle.”
Scott moved toward the back of the room and began rummaging through several of
the lockboxes. “Accordin’ to Shepherd’s report, that battlecruiser appeared at
almost exactly the moment he touched
one of the artifacts found down in the caves.”
“Artifact?...” Siyuakén echoed quietly, “…what did it look like?”
“Er, like a silver sphere,” Scott replied, “hold on just a moment… ah,
here we go!” He spun around with a flair and slammed a solid silver sphere,
roughly the size of a baseball, onto the table in the middle of the room. “It’s
a pretty interestin’ artifact, I hafta say. It actually seems to be–“
“Generating Chaos Energy?”
“…Uh, yeah, exactly,” Scott finished, glancing at Kaoné curiously. “…D’ya
recognize it?”
“It’d be hard not
to, if you’re a Chaotic,” the Materiatechnic replied, reaching for and grabbing
the silver sphere. After inspecting it for a couple moments she nodded
resolutely. “Yep, even though I’ve never seen it before, there’s no doubt
about it. This is the Master Ayas!”
Data Entry: Information Relay Points
With the galaxy’s technologically advanced state, there is plenty of information all over that all kinds of people wish to access. However, accessing this information quickly and easily is a non-trivial issue. To solve the problem, Information Relay Points (known colloquially as ‘Relay Points’) are used.
Relay points use a combination of Chaos Energy-based technology and reverse-engineered Transpace and Interstellar Gate technology to send data near-instantly to other relay points across the galaxy. The devices are known as relay points because one point sends data to the next down the line, which sends the data further down the line, and so on. They essentially pass information to each other. Additionally, relay points are designed so that they only need to send data to a handful of other relay points, so they can make use of directed-transmission technology instead of simply working by transmission bursts, which requires less energy to ensure the target relay points receive the data.
Relay points are relatively low-latency; data can be sent from one end of the galaxy to the other within hours. Real-time cross-galaxy communication is still out of reach, but each individual civilization is small enough that two people sitting on opposite sides of the civilization can communicate with each other with a lag of as little as half an hour, or even ten minutes.
To obtain maximal effectiveness of the directed-transmission technology, there are three classes of relay points: Transpace, System, and Planet. Transpace relay points are positioned at each Transpace and transmit information to the relay points at the connecting Transpaces. System relay points are positioned in each inhabited solar system and receive and transmit information to nearby system points. There is one System point at each Transpace that receives transmissions from the respective Transpace point and then transmits the information to the nearby System points. Finally, Planet relay points are positioned on each inhabited planet. These relay points use transmission bursts instead of direct-transmission, as on such a small scale there is little energy efficiency gain between the two methods – and transmission bursts are simply an easier way to distribute data. Planet relay points are responsible for the actual distribution of data, and all technology relying on data sent through the relay network receive and send data to planet relay points.
Aside from technology directly interfacing with the relay network, people can access the data directly by interfacing with the Relaynet, a special network interface setup and maintained by the Core Space Alliance (CSA). It shares many likenesses with the early Earthian internet but is mostly used only for accessing data and information.
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