"Hmm. It is worth a shot. See if we can't load a drone or two and signal the others ships to wait until we return for further actions. Make the necessary adjustments!"
"Does the probe have any sensor data?" Vathan asks the experts.
"Only one came back, what if where looking at an unstable sola area, with heat jets?, the range temp may alter, For me this is to much of a risk."
The probe has only fractured sensor readings. Mostly just high temperature readings for about 3 seconds. During that 3 seconds, the temperature output was fairly steady.
Nothing visual other than an red blur for some reason. Radiation readings kicked over about 2000 sieverts.
Holt looks up at Annara, trying to calm her excitement, and says "Probe readings show steady temps, though it was only able to measure for a very brief window. Radiation readings show our ship should be able to protect us, probably for longer than we could stand the heat."
Ophelia sorry that read really odd, My mistake, what Annara said was said in 'concern' and with 'slight worry' not in 'excitement' as such. She would be excited about good news, this to her is very bad news. "Counter her concerns" more than "calm her excitement" If you see where I'm coming from. Next time I will make it more clear what her tone is.
She looks at Ophelia.
"I know your just trying to calm my concerns Ophelia, but taking this as the only option worry's me. My main concern is a logical one, one of risking the best ship in our fleet with out fully finding alternatives if we can. That's my point, risk management. We have only looked for two weeks for other jump points in the system, sent two probes and only on came back with a few seconds of data, which show a place that may hold dangers we are as yet unaware of. Where jumping into a large plasma like area, that area could be vast and maybe unstable, with 3 seconds we have no idea. We could jump or we could look in this system for other jump points, and not just rush to take the 1st option open to us. Lets not let 'excitement' get the better of us, just because we can dos a thing it dos not mean we should do it, at this point."
She is not scolding in her tone but trying to get her point over, but offering up a clear view that's based on her risk assessment.
Ophelia looks at Annara, her lips pursed in consideration, before she responds "I was mostly just answering Vathan's question, though I guess my... enthusiasm does show a little too much. I'm not against continuing to search some more. Besides, maybe the temps we read are from a binary start system where the starts orbit each other. If that's the case, then waiting some time might see a drastic decrease in temps and radiation... Though if the we send another probe through, and the readings stay constant, then I'm don't think we should stop our exploration here, either."
"Hmm..." the Captain ponders. She would love to throw caution into the wind and dash into the great unknown, but odds are it might not end up perfectly. And she didn't want to be cooked either. "We'll avoid taking that lane for now then. But let's see if we can't send another drone in and have it warp back asap - it should be able to get a good reading in even such a short window and hopefully it wont be all melted from the short exposure. And send one drone back to Telthani - they'll need all the info we got from the first drone. Ceramic shielding and heat-proofing the next batch of five drones or so would give us an opportunity to take a better look at what's on the other side!"
The probe comes back heat blasted again, like the previous one. Unfortunately this one comes back with not much. No red this time, instead it comes back with just a blurry star field that's washed out and hazy, along with the same heat/radiation readings.
The other probes (5 in hold, 12 left) continue searching the small red dwarf system for two more weeks, and have completely looked at all 1st order locales, and all 2nd order locales.
Warp points are found in 1st order locales 95% of the time.
Warp points are found in 2nd order locales 4.5% of the time.
Warp points are found in 3rd order locales 0.48% of the time.
Warp points are found in non-ordered locales 0.02% of the time.
It will take another 6 months to search all 3rd order locales with your current 12 probes.
Aannara looks over the last data set from the probe.
At there daily meeting two weeks into probing she says,
"It looks like the chance of finding a new Jump point is close to none, so reviewing the last data set from the last probe, the star field seems to mean the area of heat can be traversed. Taking this new data into account my recommendation is we jump, if to hot we jump back, if safe we plot jump location and make or way into the system."
As the crew is searching for other warp points. Ziirkaa spends his time tackling a different problem. Can I figure out what system the Jump point is probably jumping to. Then see if we have any information about that system? The rest of the crew notices Ziirkaa humming and happier than usual.
Noticing Ziirkaa is actually content, Holt knows that he must be working on something interesting. "Ohhh, what are you looking at Aggie?"
Ziirkaa manages to track it down. He thinks it's a system somewhere on the line bisecting Bellatrix and Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionix).
With only a single frame of reference, it could be anywhere on a 200 light year line, and anywhere within 5 lightyears of that line.
It's likely an unknown system as nothing in the known system database flags from the star chart.
During the voyage and waiting time, Vathan concerns himself with the crew getting to know them: strengths, weaknesses, passions, etc. It's important for him to understand what type of people that he has around him when everything goes crazy. He downplays his celebrity status to be just one of the troops.
"We can give homeworld a chance to fix up a couple of drones with proper thermal protection atleast. Meanwhile we got nothing to do but twiddle our thumbs - so let us start working on those 3rd order nodes."
It was one thing that she actually liked about pretending to be a 'merchant': a bit more relaxed command structure. *Yawn!* She put her feet up on an unimportant console and entwined her hand behind her head, leaning back into a more comfortable position.
The two additional cargo ships move up to the McTavish, they were on their way anyway.
Ziirkaa and Holt spend a week modifying a probe in the McTavish's hold, letting the APC float in space so they have the room (the seats will need to be replaced as the foam is now ruined).
They manage to get a single probe set up with an inch of mylar sheeting over it, and also pumping liquid nitrogen through the entire structure in thick metal tubes.
This time the probe is able to stay for 30 seconds before it has to blip back.
It's able to do a complete 360 degree pan, and shows a massive (relatively speaking) red star very close to itself, and then a much tinier red star off to one side.
The warp point is coming out about 20 million kilometers from the surface of a red dwarf star. A second red dwarf (part of a binary system) is very far away. No indications of planets, but the binary system may have some that are orbiting the other star (binary systems this close generally have planets only around one of the stars, due to tidal forces).
Annara looks over the vids of her family when the cargo shop comes, and spends her time making ones to send back.
When the probe works she asks of Holt and Agge
"So is it safe to jump in? If so when can we be ready"
She not happy but if this is there only root out then she knows they have to.
During the voyage and waiting time, Vathan concerns himself with the crew getting to know them: strengths, weaknesses, passions, etc. It's important for him to understand what type of people that he has around him when everything goes crazy. He downplays his celebrity status to be just one of the troops.
The McTavish makes the transition, and almost immediately the bridge is filled with the raucous sound of it's captain trying to keep down her lunch.
And also with the raucous buzzers sounding warnings. Heat, Radiation, Gravity.
The ship lurches sideways, the compensators unable to fully compensate for it with the transit disruption of the ship's circuitry. Everyone is thrown sideways as the ship goes from zero Gravity to being deep in the gravity well of a red dwarf star.
The forward viewscreen shows a star sliding into view. 20 million kilometer's away, the star, despite being a dwarf, is massive and fills half the heavens.
Sensors begin getting good readings on the star, it's surface temperature is 4280K, a slightly above average energetic star. Far off in the distance behind the ship another red dwarf can be seen. The computer begins calculating distances based on wavelength distortion, and quickly pegs it somewhere between 24 and 25 light hours distant.
Without using active sensors, the ship is going to be unable to tell anything else about the binary system without actually flying around and doing passive scans of the entire system.
The ship can't hold any probes and the APC.
Readings indicate the other ships would be safe on transit, but will need to boost out of the sun's near range ASAP to avoid issues with sensor damage and hull fatigue.
The biggest danger at the moment is an ill timed/directed solar flare. The chances for it happening are low, but would be completely fatal.
Annara is pulled over but just managers to hold on, as things and others fall past, soon it's over, she stands.
"Some times I hate being right, are we able to get away from this star, if so I really think we should."
The sudden smash took Dr. Ziirkaa completely by surprise. He is pleasantly surprised that for once he isn't stuck in some ridiculous position. Were it not for the ringing in his ears for slamming his head into his console, he would be fine. "Acceleration straps are reasonably effective sir." he reports with a hint of pride in his voice.
As the ship lurches, Vathan is taken off guard and slams his head against the bulkhead. Seeing lights and hearing bells, he grabs his bloody head and heads to the bridge. The jumps had become so routine that he had stopped the habit of securing himself. Time would tell if the old dog would learn a new trick.
Holt, having spent more time in zero gravity lately than on unsteady footing, and who was turning to face a different monitor, tumbles from her chair, the side of her head hitting the edge of another station.
Grimacing as she returns to her chair, she checks the sensors and says "We're ok, but we shouldn't linger. It would probably be best to observe from a distance while we discuss what we want to do about the other vessels in our 'fleet'."
Maybe the pills actually helped! Ceres though. Her teeth were gritted and her visage pale, but the brown paper bag in her lap remained unused. She barely had time to smile before the ship jerked to the side, trying to fling her from her seat.
Yet endless drills (and a bit of luck) had prepared her well and she parried perfectly. It didn't look like all of her crew took it similarly well. She suppressed the growing smile - it wouldn't be appropriate - but it was nice to not be the person mewling for once! Bless those pills!
"Affirmative. Set a course straight away from the star - we'll figure something out when we got a safe vantage."
Ziirkaa goes back to monitoring sensor readings to help the ship avoid flares and other potential danger, along with taking all the readings he can for general scientific purposes.
Ziirkaa finds that the star is a fairly typical, bog standard red dwarf star. It has no immediately obvious planets, which is not unexpected, considering it is a binary system.
The passive sensors confirm the jump coordinates calculated previously, refining them slightly as they have less blurry and more detailed receipt of stars now.
The system is a previously un-named and uncategoried system. It would not even be visible from earth, due to the low-output from the dual red dwarves.
Ziirkaa runs the processing routine, and the astrogation computer begins to calculate likely jump points. Given it's a binary system, there are a lot of possibilities. Not likely to be many, given the relative mass of the stars, unfortunately. Searching this system is likely to take a month or two.
Just getting to the other star is likely to take 3 weeks, and require the ship to get up to it's .4C upper speed.
The McTavish's engines flare, and the ship pushes out rapidly, away from the small red star.
After moving off a half a day, they are 40 million kilometers away, and outside the immediate range of any flares. The passive sensors have had 12 hours of scanning on the sun, and while it is active and solar flares do flare up, nothing seems to be putting out anything major. It seems a pretty bog standard red dwarf star. As long as the freighters accelerate away from it ASAP they should be ok.
It wouldn't be recommended that any of the ships hang out around the warp point, or transit it often, but it's usable.
The ship astrogation package indicates that the star is currently moving out of a near pass on the warp point. In 50 years, it will be a much safer transit. In 5000 it will be a very very dangerous transit point.
Holt scans the monitors for a bit, checking on the various statistics being generated by the star. Finally, she speaks up without looking away, saying "Captain, it should be safe for the other vessels to jump through, though I would suggest they immediately set course for us."
Wow, this is interesting! Not only do we have a secret door to our homeworld, but it has a very inconsistent moat too!
Ceres yawns. Twelve hours was a long time. But there was some things left to do before she could take a proper nap. Like making sure they were safe. On the bright side, the symptoms of translation sickness had fated a handful of hours ago.
"An impressive moat indeed. Say, the jump-node position does not correspond to any of the standard nodes - right? I'm not sure I've heard of one so close to a star before..." Not that I heard much about jump-nodes in general. Just theoretical old stuff ... She paused for a moment to let the specialists confirm her suspicion before continuing. Clearing her throat, she nodded towards the controls for the sensor array. "Before we bring any other ship over, let us take a proper sweep. If there is anyone watching, we are better served to know so now. Plot a course adjustment first and let us align properly before activating, if we get (un)lucky. We might be able to bluff us out of the situation that way."
Looking through the mathematics, the Heeetheee mathematics seem to have corrections in them for binary systems. Those corrections indicate that binary and trinary systems can have warp points that are only open during close approach to a star, and are closed at other times. It appears this is an unusual, but not unheard of, phenomenon. Almost certainly the warp point will become a closed type within 50 years. Theoretically, it could become a type C warp point, closed on both ends, after the sun is far enough away not to destabilize it.
The sensors eventually ping the entire system.
Alpha: Red Dwarf (mid range, 4300K surface temperature)
Beta: Red Dwarf (mid range, 4350K surface temperature)
Alpha Orbit 0 : 1 planet, 4800 km diameter, no atmosphere, 0.98G
Alpha Orbit 3 : 1 planet, 4800 km diameter, no atmosphere, 1.03G
Alpha Orbit 8 : 1 gas giant
Beta Orbit 2 : 1 planet, 3200 km diameter, no atmosphere, 0.56G
Beta Orbit 4 : 1 gas giant
Beta Orbit 6 : 1 Planet, 4800 km diameter, no atmosphere, 0.78G
The ship is currently in orbital slot 1 around Beta.
No non-natural objects detected.
As always, Doctor Ziirkaa reacts to new data with glee!
Ziirkaa calculates 21 Alpha Loci candidates, 48 Beta Loci candidates, and 2,387 Delta Loci candidates. The loci candidates are split roughly evenly between the two stars.
Searching all 21 Alpha loci using just the McTavish will take approximately 8 weeks.
"All clear then." the captain notes as they finish sweeping the system with their scanners. "Let's bring in the support! *Yawn* I want someone on watch at all times for solar activity - might be worth having a dedicated probe/satellite for that later ... Ah well, that won't be our problem yet."
Ceres will arrange for a rotation of watches then head off for some sleep. She didn't really look forward to another jump so quickly, but courtesy demanded that they atleast reported back.
Annara Keeps out of the way of the others wile they work, and lets Vathan oversee security. She spends her time studying and practising her PSI talents.
Holt nodded at at Ceres, saying "Yes ma'am. Rest well, Captain."
As they begin to head back towards the jump point, Holt leans over to Ziirkaa, smirking, and whispers "How do you think a solar flare or coronal emission would react with a charging jump drive?"
Charging up a jump drive would have very little effect on a nearby star. However, discharging a jump drive would. It would almost certainly increase the potential for coronal activity for a space of time afterwards. The length of time would depend on the strength of the jump drive, and the amount of mass being jumped. A probe drive likely barely registered. The McTavish's jump drive would likely cause issues for at least a couple of days.