Starchaser Ch. 04: Farpoint Welcome

This is a series story and the fourth chapter of an extended work.

If you have not read Ch.01, Ch.02, and Ch.03, please go back and read those first in order to understand what is going on in Ch.04. If you have read them before, you might want to read them again to once again enjoy the flow of the adventure (and the chapters are getting longer.)

The Starchaser story takes us where our human abilities are yet to go and catch up with the galaxy around us. It informs us of what is out there and what is really going on, that most of us have yet to discover. See how your view of what we are really here for compares to that of the Avalonian Combine and decide for yourself which you prefer.

This key is to aid the reader in knowing what voice the writing is in, to provide a signal of a change in voice for the next part, and perhaps each is a visual clue : =N= is written in a narration voice present tense [ N ] is written in a narration voice with past tense reference o/o is written in the male voice character perspective past tense -v- is written in the female voice character perspective past tense Format using "words" and 'words' : - the character's spoken words using voice are in double "quotes" - the character's spoken words using thoughts through their Neural Communicator are in single 'quotes'

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - read the chapters in sequence as this ongoing story builds on everything before this chapter was written. -------------------------------------------------------------

[ Starchaser Chapter 4 ]

-v-

Barrett said our tour of Starchaser was going to have to wait and that we needed to be on the bridge. He led me quickly past the Textile Lab, we were running holding hands along the port wing leading edge corridor to the central part of Starchaser. We turned to the up-down tubes and stepped directly into the up-side going to the top and stepped directly into what turned out to be the uppermost deck of the bridge. This time the up-down tubes made sense to me and caused me no issues even though there was no perceived floor. What was my focus was the level where we got off. We passed what looked like tactical planning stations like those seen in the Star Wars movie on planet Hoth, and we were then behind two high chairs, one labeled First Mate on the right and the other labeled Captain to the left. I knew which one was mine and I immediately went around and climbed up onto my First Mate chair. I could see the view out of the forward and side facing windows into Space on the other side of an open floor that looked directly down onto the two lower bridge decks. Directly in front of me was a thin railing between us and that open expanse that made the bridge windows appear to be a good distance away from our chairs.

I noticed by the view out of the windows that they must be that Lexan Matrix stuff as there was no reflection and it was dark through them, but not at all distracting as I looked at a big holographic sphere that occupied most of the empty space in the middle of the bridge. The next lower bridge deck, the middle deck was much like the top deck I was on. It had a similar balcony railing and below that deck, the bottom deck had what looked like a dish that the hologram sat on in the middle of that lowest bridge deck. Barrett started talking as a briefing for me to learn what was going on, first talking to Starchaser to have the hologram display what he wanted me to see. He said, "Zoom visual bands for the fused probe." The effect was amazing, like a large IMAX display it showed two objects that looked very different from each other, molded together where they touched and they had a long framework connecting them to what looked like a spaceship. Then he started telling me what I was seeing.

"OK, here's the situation," Barrett said as he turned to look at me. "Just before we met, I received a proximity alarm for unusual activity here outside the Sol System Heliosheath, the place in deep space beyond where the Sun affects how things move in space." He seemed to know what he was talking about and some of the words seemed to be familiar, but for me they were jumbled ideas that I was sure I would need to learn. "We got here a moment ago while we were moving between our bedroom and the bridge." I loved how he said that part. "Starchaser awakened me because a network of probes we have stationed out here detected a disturbance that appears to be related to this destroyed spacecraft there." He pointed to the image floating in the empty space of the bridge holograph.

"That is actually our probe," the probe image glowed momentarily, "that we fused to the xenoprobe," the other probe momentarily glowed, "to supply it with what it needs to continue sending information to whomever sent it out here. The xenoprobe had a tender ship until that ship attacked Starchaser. As we approached to see what they were doing, they responded in a hostile way and likely did not realize that their energy weapons were only going to destroy themselves. How that works is a DS Cruiser has energy management systems that channel incoming energy across the hull to collectors and once our batteries are topped off, the extra energy gets redirected elsewhere. Because it was sent from them, the system is designed to automatically return it in the direction from which it was sent as would happen if we were docked on a LRSS to ensure no stray energy is spilled causing problems or damage. They apparently were either not ready to absorb the energy or deflect it, or they have no defensive capability against their own design of weaponry. Knowing someone sent them out here, or why else would they be here, and they would be coming out to find out what happened to their ship, I used the destroyed ship's parts that were floating away to make a tether connecting the fused probes to the tender ship. As I mentioned, I was expecting at some point, something was going to happen out here, and apparently that point is now."

Wow, what did he say? It sounded very important but he also looked very calm and almost like it was a routine kind of thing for him. I looked at the holographic image to try to put his words to what I was seeing. He continued, "And now we wait, kind of like fishing. You might say this is the bait and we are waiting to see what the fish looks like that is attracted to the bait." He then sat on his Captain chair and reached over, taking my hand and his eyes again looked at my nude body as if he was trying to steal my curves. I couldn't help feeling turned on and I bit my lower lip subconsciously but also became aware I was doing it. My nipples were erect and firm, almost making them feel like they were going to pop. I was thinking that maybe our uniform aboard Starchaser should stay as just being naked, just as we were, feeling I was getting to be accustomed to not wearing clothes, being with Barrett just this way, and Starchaser didn't seem to have any interest in us either way.

With Barrett relaxing it caused me to yawn and I moved over finding I could easily wrap my hands and arms around his arm nearest to me. Honestly, it was taking two of my hands and arms to hang onto just one of his arms. I leaned against him with my eyes closing yet again. He didn't seem to mind. I could feel him stroke my hair with his hand and it relaxed me so much I didn't realize I had fallen asleep next to him once again.

=N=

As with things in the dealings of governments and military on planetary or systemary scale, nothing happens quickly or sometimes at all, unless it is by a reactionary and ruthless culture such as the Ra had been until their self-extermination during the Ra Vengeance War with the Avalonian Combine. That War, as with many poorly planned and executed campaigns, caused the Ra to suffer from gross underestimation of their foe and an unwillingness to consider alternatives. There is no way to know if the xenoprobe and its tender support vessel that encountered Starchaser is from one of those kinds of civilizations or if it from a splinter group like the Chrr Raiding parties that scavenge for whatever they can acquire through nefarious means.

The nature of the tender ship suggests it was more the latter than the former having a low level of technology. The vessel demonstrated a delay in detecting the presence of the DS Cruiser and their response was an attack instead of making any attempt to communicate as is the usual practice in interstellar navigation procedures. This tactic would indicate it was likely associated with a scavenger raider type of organization or culture.

It is Barrett's practice to use his Neural Communicator to directly think using the Datastream through Starchaser's Central Cortex Processor by creating Information Request Packets when seeking knowledge to make his creative decisionmaking valid and relevant. This time he is looking for deception activity with similar occurrences that have happened anywhere in Avalonian Space. Starchaser has had years of experience with her Captain's need for new information and her adaptive programming enabled Starchaser to initiate a Query Ticket to the Combine Nexus Datastream that always includes a link to the relatively new Databank vaults at Farpoint Station discovered 50 years before Starchaser was commissioned.

These requests are always a long shot as word choice by the requester and the key words entered in the file management algorithm are often discrepant so at times a successful search was more a matter of luck than skill. On long patrols, it is not unusual for Captains and Starfighter Pilots stationed on DSC and LRSS ships to monitor the Datastream for Information Request Query Tickets as they are a form of entertainment and good for learning and sharing experiences. Occasionally, it is the people who are the best intuitive agile source of information that enabled receiving a successful return on information being sought.

o/o

I was getting used to having Noel near me. We had been together for only two or three Earth days and already we had experienced intimacy as much as a man and woman could share, we shared a bed and extensive alone time without a chaperone or clothes. It was beginning to look like nudity was to be our shipboard uniform, at least for the time being, not that it was at all a bad thing with a voluptuous woman as Noel who was indeed my choice for a glamorous ship's nose art model just as bomber crews had rendered onto their aircraft during Earth's WW2.

Sitting in my Captain chair next to her on the uppermost bridge deck with her hand in mine, I watched her fall asleep as she leaned into me. It was easy to see she was still sleep deprived. I had no idea how long her day on Earth had been before we met at the beach bar and it was then past midnight when we began our adventure together. I looked at her nude body and couldn't help but feel turned on, her nipples stiff as pebbles and she had wrapped her hands and arms around my arm. I marveled at how she had both of her arms and hands wrapped around just my one arm and my bicep looked as broad around as her lovely thigh.

It was when I stroked her hair with my hand that she seemed to have relaxed enough for her to sleep again. The mantle of leadership and responsibility had me wide awake and alert in the void of space outside Sol's heliosheath, the furthest that Earth's star Sol affects what is this far out. Visually, Sol was a pinpoint of light amidst a background of similar points of light and the planets were not at all apparent. My eyes looked at her chest and her visible nipple, the angle so engaging I couldn't stop myself looking at her. I had no doubt if she saw me staring at her this way, it would be all she would need to get me thrusting her to another blissful oblivion.

I studied the angle of her nipple standing out on the roundness of her breast. It occurred to me her nipple was at approximately one third of a circle's circumference. Starchaser interrupted my thought with a neural alert announcing receipt of a reply to my Query Ticket, tagged as "Pilot Response." I looked at the virtual computer screen in my mind from the Neural Communicator link and selected open. An Avalonian Centauri Starfighter Pilot video capture began running:

"Greetings Ranger Barrett, LRSS Alpha Prime was on station in Gamma Quadrant 7. We were patrolling on security detail with 6 squadrons on a standard flare - Romeo Squadron was on point looking at a probe, got attacked, we countered and destroyed the Tender Vessel and did the standard protocol attaching a power pack to the xenoprobe to keep it running. Tango Squadron had a Starfighter with an attitude control problem so they were heading back for Alpha Prime when a long range scan picked up a distress call from the science base about a third of the orbit from the system's primary star. My squadron was dispatched on maximum burn but we were too late to catch whatever it was that had hit them. Just sounds like a similar deception event, no idea if it has any relevance but never know. Starfighter Pilot Veerie, out"

I thought commanded, 'Starchaser, catalog search Gamma Quadrant 7, LRSS Alpha Prime, Starfighter Pilot Veerie, science base, attack. Tactical data and analysis of all xenoprobe and xenocraft incidents. Send.' I reran the video capture and listened to the information again, then listened to the pitch of his voice, then watched his mannerisms, then counted syllables, and watched the voice tracking pitch and volume graphs. Then ran comparisons with his Datastream record file of historical patterns and noticed nothing unusual verifying it was a dependable report. Starchaser informed, 'catalog search tactical ready.'

=N=

The teamwork of a DSC Captain and his or her ship begins at the DSC Academy long before the Captain's DS Cruiser is launched. The Neurological Communicator implant is one of the first things that starts the Captain's training after being selected for Captaincy. Concurrently the Captain's DS Cruiser's frame construction begins in the DSC Shipyard. Simultaneously, a Central Cortex Processing Unit is created at the Megaplex Artificial Intelligence Lab and once initiated, it is grown and nurtured to generate complex subroutines and applications for each part of the DSC as the ship takes form. Like an organic organism, the ship develops as an integral unit and the Captain is connected neurally to the ship throughout the construction process, learning about its functions and capabilities. This generation of the Captain and ship team is the foundation of what makes a DS Cruiser a formidable top of the line of starship and mainstay of the Avalonian Combine Fleet.

The DSC itself is a technological marvel and when integrated with the Combine Nexus Complex Datastream, the Captain is afforded a supercomputer memory for data recall, coordination, navigation and communication. The Captain graduates from the Academy with the Commissioning of his or her Cutlass Class DSC and they then transfer to the Pleiades Cluster and join the DSC Academy Advanced Study Fleet. The Advance Study Fleet enables the Captain to achieve Ranger status, achieved when command and control is refined to lightning quick response time. That level of operation is realized when repetitive and adaptive practice moves coordination from conscious thought processes to brainstem cerebral cortex reflex. With that level of precise command and control, a DSC can out-maneuver all other spacecraft.

For the DSC Captain, having the ability to think out problems with the aid of the DSC Cortex Processor means structure is applied to otherwise random thoughts as the computer cannot process things randomly like the sentient brain can. The Processor, however, does learn brain pattern trends and applied forms of problem solving through experience and repetition. The resulting team of a sentient mind and Cortex Processor is the ship's functioning Command Structure. Together, the Captain and ship's command and control is agile and rapid.

[ N ]

Barrett had a thought during his first year at Academy while studying the Astral Physics curriculum. He reasoned if he could practice a procedure a sufficient number of times that the procedure would become an innate ability. Like learning to walk or throwing a skipping stone, practicing with mental imagery whenever possible, practicing often with slight variations that effectively moved the control system focus from the level of a conscious thought to that of a subconscious response involving no Cerebral Cortex input. He knew from learning to golf that as long as his thoughts remained in the Cerebral Cortex that the thinking was too slow for reflexive action and thoughts were in the way of a good smooth flow every time.

It was that exact concept that earned him recognition for his unprecedented rapid climb from Ranger Cadet to Ranger Mentor, completely skipping Ranger Apprentice, Ranger Novice, and Ranger Captain. He ascended levels of accomplishment so proficiently there was no need for him to remain a student at the Academy. DSC Fleet Command excused him and reassigned him to Deployed Fleet assignment well ahead of Captains who had their ship's commissioning up to three years before his own. It also gained him notoriety as an innovator, a talented Captain, and a savant to some. The DSC Academy interviewed him but could not define what he did or determine how he did it, so they could not convey whatever it was he was able to do to other students as curriculum. Available references were only Starchaser's Processor Logs that captured the effects of what he did but not the method of how he made the command inputs at a remarkable speed documented in the archives.

o/o

The information I received caused a gut intuition to form while I watched Noel breathing slowly and softly in her sleep, and her drool was pooling on her boob. I didn't have the heart to waken her or to move to wipe away the saliva that was stringing from her lip to her boob pressing against me. One third of the orbit... I looked at the tactical information again, it recorded the deception action as counterclockwise from the attack to the xenoprobe, and the support vessel was similar to the one we observed off the port bow.

'Starchaser, lay in the coordinates, drop a marker in the Datastream log entry and get us to those coordinates at best speed.' The view of the holographic display floating in the middle of the bridge turned synchronously with the pivot Starchaser made to the intended route and the star trails visible through the windows that streaked like snow in headlights. Twenty milliseconds on the universal clock and the snow streaks disappeared. The holographic navigation display showed where we were now compared to where we were before the move. Not expecting anyone out on this side of the heliosheath, my thought to Starchaser was, 'full active scan all wavelengths 360 degrees, full report on returns.'

The scan result returned nothing unusual at that position on the perimeter. I thought to Starchaser, 'deploy a probe, same again last commands, best speed to next coordinates.' Starchaser communicated back an acknowledgment of the repeated command with a tone and added for confirmation of intention, 'drop a marker?' and I thought, 'yes' which was instantly executed. The stars again like snow in headlights, twenty milliseconds on the universal clock and they returned to dots with the holographic navigation display now showing a path two thirds of the way around the Solar System. Starchaser responded very nicely, 'Full active scan returns Captain,' again nothing unusual had been detected. 'Deploy a probe,' my thought command interrupted by a sound next to me.

I heard Noel suck in her saliva and she stirred looking bleary eyed at the holographic display and then up at me. "It's different." she said and I was at once impressed and amazed that she noticed the tactical display was shifted from what it looked like before she fell asleep, and that was only about 10 minutes ago. "Going on a hunch my dear, something someone said and I felt I needed to take a look." I really liked having someone to talk to aboard ship.