Chapter One Aboard the IRG|Xochiquetzal - Zoner Carrier - Livadia Shipyard
It was the start of a great thing. Brandon eagerly walked from his suite towards the bridge. Going from the Interstellar to this glorious beast had put quite the spring in his step. Furthermore his budget from McCool had him exploring the possibility of adding another vessel to assist in his study of the Baxter Objects. But first things first. He needed to outfit the vessel.
My study of Baxter Objects had been sporadic at best while I was working on Freeport 11. Even given how long the inhabitants of Sirius knew about the Objects few had bothered studying them. Many chalking them up to nothing more than anomalies. I glanced at my datapad as I woke it from sleep mode. My model started to animate across the screen. 4 years of coding to prove that there was some chance to connect the two. That was my proudest moment, when my theory showed that Baxter Objects are points where space is almost going to fold onto itself, but not quite.
An Unstable Baxter Object Model
I entered the bridge and greeted the ships commander. It was nice to not have to handle day to day operations like I had aboard the Interstellar. I was here early to attend the first of many weekly conferences of the various departments. Today will focus on planning the Omega 3 survey. Additionally a think tank will be set up to start working on the calculations on the amount of power the Objects will require to synchronize them.
With any luck we should be on our way to Caymen within the next few days, I'm looking forward to my new research facilities.
Chapter Two Aboard the IRG|Mictlantecuhtli - Zoner Reserach Vessel - Omicron Delta
The lights on the bridge flickered again as another series of shots hit the Mictlantecuhtli. “I thought we were broadcasting a Zoner IFF.” “We are sir.” “Alert Missile Incoming” “raise the shields and return fire”
Its been a long week. I had been charting Omicron Delta aboard the Mictlantecuhtli surveying for other Baxter Objects when we came across a rogue das wilde agent. His feeble attempts to assault the Mictlantecuhtli were easily repelled. We of course brought the wreckage aboard to perform further study. It was then I found TheArtifact. I spent the better part of a half day studying the object on my own and it continued to baffle me. As I felt I had hit a brick wall I sent out a Secured Comm to Finn. We then returned to Sparta where we discovered a few new properties of the object, namely its thirst for energy. I also got news today that my newest research vessel finally got on station to start intensive studies of the Omega 3 Baxter Object. They were even nice enough to paint me a portrait to hang in my current Office.
IRG|Quetzalcoatl - Orbiting a Baxter Object, Omega 3
Once this side project wraps up aboard the Ingenuus I'll be moving to the IRG|Quetzalcoatl for the next stage of my research on the Baxter Objects.
Chapter Three Aboard the IRG|Xiuhtecuhtli - Omicron Delta
It has been a year since Brandon has taken his crew on a deep survey of the nomadic Omicrons, however his quest to find a Baxter Object within those systems has come back unsuccessful.
Astounding, it has literally been a year since I left Freeport 11. While my surveys of the nomadic omicrons failed to find even a single baxter object, it did confirm another suspension I had. I now believe that baxter objects aren't as natural as we are lead to believe, but instead are part of some sort of network allowing fast travel from the nomadic omicrons do the deep center of the various houses. While this new theory will also take some time to also confirm the math works out, the question becomes finding one in action. Although with the sudden uptick in reported nomad attacks reaching me via the SNN I find this theory the most plausible.
A Stable Baxter Object, created by a Live Nomad Power Core
I plan on spending a few days on Freeport 11 before returning to Omicron 74. There I'll need to have a new vessel commissioned, I doubt any one of the houses will allow the IRG|Quetzalcoatl to enter their territory, I'll need something smaller and more specialized for an inner house survey for Baxter objects.
The past month has certainly been busy, now that Ingenuus has more projects than I care to count. Yesterday was especially draining, to both the crew and the ship. The Aurora was sent out for a survey of Omicron 74 to assist a Solar vessel return to Livadia for some quite extensive repairs. I'm not sure whether to be proud or pissed that the hyperspace array failed in such a spectacular manner, the jump fleet re-entered normal space less than 12k from Planet Tirane, even though the initial survey was well over 30k away. The almost failed jump scared Finn a little, maybe, at any rate he is approved my budget request for the new reactor. The Aurora has been docked to Livadia for the time being, I'm sure I'll need to pull Finn away from the Ares before I can get him focused on the Aurora.
Ship Log #61 Aboard the IRG|Aurora.Borealis, Omega 3 The Aurora has completed her trials with her new reactor and moved to Omega 3 to begin an intensive hyperspace survey of the local Baxter Object
Following the completion of my reactor upgrade I've taken command of the Aurora and returned to Freeport 1 in Omega 3 to resume my study of Baxter Objects. With the powered up array we conducted a detailed hyperspace survey of the baxter object and discovered slight pattern degradation spreading in five distinct patterns. four of the rays we can't get a good reading on, but one of them is leading off on a heading that clearly intersects the Chester system. See the included report.
The Baxter Object within Omega 3 contains several residual trails of localized hyperspace disturbances. This degradation can be traced in 5 distinct trails. Three of them appear to be going towards Liberty Space but are not defined enough to get a readable bearing on direction. One ray is directed towards the southern part of the system and is a suspected bad reading, caused by the local jump holes to Cambridge and Omega 5. The final ray was definitive enough in shape to get a bearing mark. The Closest solar system along the coordinate heading is Chester.
based on the survey I've directed the Aurora to begin preparations for a trip to the Chester system. However before we could get underway I was stopped outside of Freeport 1 and brought distressing news about Thallia.
Ship Log #91 Aboard the IRG|Aurora.Borealis, Chester Brandon has gone to and returned from a hyperspace survey expedition to the Chester System. Brad attempted to go to Chester on his own but was driven off by a nomad hive that responded to his presence. He decided to contact Battlegroup Auxesia for a heavy escort into and out of Chester.
The Aurora is handling her new reactor upgrade beautifully. Not only have we deceased our turnaround time for survey missions we've also managed to increase our loiter time by almost a day. While its pushing the limits of the crew they are responding admirably to the increase in duty and responsibility.
The Chester Baxter Object, much like the one found in Omega 3, contains hyperspace disturbance trails. One of the hyperspace trails appears to be aliened with a nomad hive located within the system. The other four disturbances are spread out on various headings unrelated to the hive. One disturbance leads off in a direction outside of any human inhabited system. The other three disturbances again indicate that there is travel towards Liberty, but are likewise undefined enough to get a reasonable reading on a heading.
Several anomalies were encountered within the debris fields surrounding the Nomad Hive. Further study is required to determine if the Baxter Object is related to the Nomad Hive and the radiation zones that surround it.
While the survey wasn't complete enough to give us a direct course to another Baxter Object, unlike the one in Omega 3. The computer has narrowed down our search to Kansas, Alberta, and Cassini based off my previous surveys. Its been quite awhile since I've been to Liberty, I doubt its changed much.
Ship Log #102 Aboard the IRG|Aurora.Borealis, Freeport 8 While the Aurora was originally intended to move towards Liberty to begin a survey Brandon has instead diverted the Aurora to the newly built Freeport 8. While conducting local system surveys Brad received a transmission from Raven
Everything has gone to hell and a hand-basket. Omcrion Delta has broken out in a major conflict, and on top of that several jump holes have de-stabilized over the regional area affecting travel. Meanwhile the Aurora has been tasked by Finn to map supply routes to the newly built Freeport 8. I'll admit this place is a work in progress. I've brought my personal fighter, an Osprey Mk II to the station with me, to assit in local defense.
Additionally, due to the conflict I have gained command of a Carrier by the name of IRG|Aurora.Zephyrus, the Carrier is outfitted with several innovative items. Most notable of which is a cloak disruptor. Which should prove useful in reverse engineering whatever it is that Raven found.
Ship Log #032 Aboard the IRG|Aurora.Apeliotes, Ames Research Station
The past four months has been a whirlwind of activity and research. While I have almost completely identified the majority of the Baxter Network questions remain on its purpose, and more importantly its power supply. In order to potentially identify movement within the Network I have outfitted the Apeliotes with a Hyperspace Beacon, which when coupled with our advances in Hyperspace scanning technology will allow the Apeliotes an almost real time view of the Baxter Network...within 3 lightyears...and only for 30 second bursts.
An Active Hyperspace Scanner Beacon within a Jump Hole
The Beacon, despite our best efforts, usually overheats and decays within that period of time. While we have not had a chance to accually test the beacon on a Baxter Object we have been using it within the Kepler System. Data extrapolation has been 87% accurate so far in identifying smuggling traffic within the system. Leading us to believe of its potential use on the Baxter Network.
Personal Log #867 Aboard Ames Research Station
This is my second bottle this week, and this week has quite literally just started. I'm not sure at this point if Finns alcoholism is a symptom of the work, or a result of it. I've spent many of these past weeks catching up on the job duties that I was saddled with, some annoying, others pleasurable. The most pleasurable was approving my own budget request for the next quarter. It did require some other teams to be underfunded, they'll probably be reassigned somewhere else, if we have the credits for it.
Ethics be damned my project will always be fully funded, even at the expense of others.
Research Index: Hyperspace Background
What if the universe as we know it was larger than we expected. What if there was a whole other dimension, in addition to the three we are already familiar with. Physics suggests that antimatter and regular matter should have been created in equal amounts, yet we find that antimatter is almost non-existent considering the quantities of matter that we have "available". It has been theorized that antimatter has been trapped in large quantities within hyperspace which is why gravitational fields are so much weaker than other fundamental forces in what is now defined as, Normal Space.
The Jump Drive
The Jump Drive is the pinnacle of human development and represents the next step in the growth of our species. While there are naysayers Jump Drives will eventually make both the Jump Gates and the Trade Lanes obsolete. There are limitations however.
Even though gravitational fields are weak in Normal Space within Hyperspace they can affect trip time, and even length. Bodies that have stronger gravitational fields allow for longer rides though hyperspace. A spacecraft traveling from a high-mass to a low mass may find itself unable to take the same route back. Planing must be done to ensure that stranding doesn't take place. It is possible to disengage the Jump Drive in the middle of a journey. However it becomes substantially more difficult to reenter Hyperspace the farther from a gravitational body one is.