Stardate: 80506:2200
Title: A Question of Protocol
Author: Maxine Jenna
Time: Following on from the destruction of the USS Atlantis
Scene: USS Relentless


The Defiant-class escort vessels that had accompanied the USS Relentless to her jump co-ordinates had proved woefully ineffective against the destroyer of the USS Atlantis. But maybe more worryingly was the Captain's desire to attempt to track this unknown assailant to whatever parallel universe they returned to...

~

The exchange the traders of Thera had wished to discuss was of little concern to the Chief Science Officer although getting navigational data from them was, and so the captains of both vessels had agreed to some of their officers conducting an exchange of data.

As Maxine looked through the information, she realised that the 'Thera' these traders referred to was this universe's Earth. Socially, economically and technologically much of their history and progression was similar to that of their own universe, although a sustained period of large wars had resulted in the death of many of Thera's scientific community. Even so, their own encounter with space-faring races had provided a passage to the stars, and the inhabitants of the minerally-rich Sol system had established themselves as traders of a variety of goods ranging from raw materials to fine arts...


=/\= A Short While Later - Science Lab 1 =/\=

"I do not understand the Captain's orders to follow an obviously superior enemy." The familiar holograph form of Relly continued to converse with the Chief Science Officer. "Would not the correct protocol to follow be reporting the incident to Starfleet Command and aborting this mission?"

Maxine looked up from the console.

"Protocols don't cover every eventuality, and sometimes our... humanity... will ignore the most relevant or proper course of action to pursue a more... personal one," the CSO looked at the AI, wondering if she understood.

"Is that why you are trying to determine where the other vessel went?" Relly's questions were asked in the manner of a child but even so Maxine knew that the entity unexpectedly forged from the union of the Relentless computer core and the Progenitor jump drive understood more than 'she' was letting on.

"Yes. We have known since our initial jump that vessels from other universes are also capable of trans-universal travel, but this one appears different somehow..." Maxine couldn't put her finger on it.

"That may be because their drive mechanism was not created by the Progenitors." Relly's offhand comment caught Maxine by surprise, and she waited for her quizzical look to elicit a response from Relly before realising her programming still did not quite interpret the human expressions very well.

"What makes you say that?"

"Their mechanism is flawed - the bridge it generates between universes has an excessively high radiation output; prolonged usage would most certainly present a cumulative exposure that would be lethal to any inhabitants of the vessel..."


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Lieutenant Maxine Jenna
Chief Science Officer
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
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