USS Horizon: studying the planet

It didn't take long for the flagship of Lotus Fleet to maneuver itself  between the moons orbiting on the same ecliptic the blue, gree and white orb of the fourth planet.

"Is it me or the image is still... fuzzy?" wondered Kheren after a moment.

"The computer can only render an image from the sensor data of all our instruments, Sir," explained Irksos but not without definite puzzlement in her own voice and features. "The dampening effect of the planet on our scanners..."

"This boat has windows now, doesn't she?" Doctor Nasaro-Myth grumbled.

"Reports from the observation decks and viewports are the same," the black-skinned woman answered. "Whatever affects our instruments on all types of energy readings also alffect the electromagnetic, including organic optics."

"So much for a closer look," Kheren sighed. "Launch probe."

From beneath the screen, a flash of light moved away towards the mysterious orb.

"Probe launched; deploying subprobes in four seconds...three... two... one..."

The tiny light of the probe suddenly seemed to explode as six smaller dots spread out from it and moved to a closer orbit of the planet. They blinked rythmically as they encircled Eden IV... and then, they vanished.

The Andorian looked up at his silent chief of science and then at her astrophysicist assistant.

"Signal lost, Captain," Irksos finally said with a frown.

"None, Sir... Well... not exactly."

Kheren just looked at her, waiting. She looked again at what her board was saying to her, or what it was not saying, for a moment longer before she turned to face him with a face more bewildered than ever.

"It appears that we receive no reading at all because... there is nothing there at all. I mean... really nothing, Sir. Not even residual matter or energy of any kind, not even debris or propulsion trace of our probes that went down just a few seconds ago. A void, a virtual nothingness in the absolute sense of the word."

"Surrounding a planet we can still detect?"

"Yes, captain; we detect the planet's presence and general parameters because our instruments, especially our long range sensors, do so by measuring mostly the effect of it's presence on the surrounding space; mass displacement, effect on nearby gravity fields, space matter dispersal around it as it circle the star... all indirect data we routinely accumulate and process into pre-established data to quickly catalog and identify a space body even at a great distance. That's why we can still somewhat see it despite the fact that no energy at all comes from or even refracts from it. It's like all forms of energy are simply nullified in it's vicinity."

"What, like a black hole?"

"An apt analogy if we limit ourselves to it's overall effect, Sir. However, a planet would not be able to exist within a black hole; any matter would be instantly crushed into it's infinite gravity well. That's why light itself is unable to escape a singularity and it's colloquial Earth name of black hole, despite the fact that it is not a hole as you would usually understand the word. But this is quite different."

Kheren sat back in his chair, pensive for a moment. 

"Well... we can not see much from here and probes are apparently useless. What's next?"

"Perhaps a greeting Sir." Aron'Son proposed and as he did so he realized that was a suggestion he would have never made prior to his joining Starfleet. "All frequencies, all channels...a standard hail."

"We still have no clue if this is a natural or artificial phenomenon," Irksos retorted. "May I remind the captain that in the former hypothesis, a hail will have no result; but if the latter, beyond possible Prime directive unintentional violations, it did happen in the past that a hail was interpreted as hostile, like during the V'Ger incident... or caused automated responses possibly dangerous as in the case of the discovery of the Jenolan Dyson sphere. We need to know more before even attempting such a direct, possibly intrusive action."

Kheren sighed, still looking at the mysterious planet.

"Back to my original question then; now what?"

"Perhaps Mr. Irksos hasn't had a lot of time in exploration captain" Redding said with an amused tone.

"Risk is part of the job, we start with the lowest risk we cant think of, usually scanning of course, then move up the risk ladder. Next we tried a probe and after that? Well we try the next least risky thing that seems reasonable, in this case I'm thinking contact. The only thing less risky is just leaving it alone."

He shrugged slightly.

"After that? I don't know.. shoot at it?" he said jokingly.

"If that little gem of advice doesn't do it for you lets try logic. Either it's natural or artificial right? If it's natural then the chances of life developing on the surface, life as we know it anyway, can't exist. So if it's a natural effect hailing the planet wont do anything." He said trying to sound serious."If it's artificial then their level of technology puts them above the concern of breaching the prime directive, and if they are hiding in there? they simply wont answer. Yes, I fully admit theres a real risk doing anything at all, in this case I'd say it's minimal up until the point of risking people directly, such as a landing party."

Inwardly, Redding sighed deeply. 

Back in my day we just DID things.. talk.. talk.. talk..'

"I am sure the Governor would volunteer to go down to the planet with a few...or all...of her followers if you gave her the opportunity," The Romulan engineer joked. "But maybe shooting at it isn't such a bad idea..."

His mind started doing the calculations of what would need to be done, as a few of his bridge mates looked at him strangely.

"If we could modify a torpedo to detonate immediately above the sensor-loss threshold, we might be able to puncture whatever is protecting the planet. Are there any readings coming off the planet for any sort of radiation or isotope? Something we could install a counter into the torpedo, removing the warhead, of course, so we can open our own window? Think of this like trying to detect a cloaked Warbird. Tachyons will detect a cloaked ship. We just need to find what will lift the veil here... "

The black skinned astrophysicist thought for a moment.

"Well that's the main part of the problem; nothing at all emanates from the planet, even if it's presence, like it's mass, does affect the surrounding space normally. Even a black hole emits X rays around itself but here... nothing. However... if we do as you suggest, we could detect and analyse the effect of this phenomenon on a torpedo detonating close enough... and maybe shed some light onto this mystery... literally. A photon torpedo would be best, as the photon is the elementary particle of electromagnetic interaction. If engineering could remove the quantum assembly of one of our quantum torpedoes... and tactical fire it precisely less than a kilometer from the coordinates where our probe vanished..."

She looked up at her commanding officer.

"At least this way we should learn a bit more than what we do now."

"Not that it is all that hard to achieve, considering we still know next to nothing..." Elliago chimed in with a crooked smile.

Kheren listened and he too took a moment to think. There was something nagging at the back of his mind each time someone spoke about hailing frequencies... but for now, it only gave him a vague feeling of unease; nothing he could use to even begin justifying not to follow such a basic procedure. The proposal of his chief engineer backed up by Irksos was giving him an another option and some time to ponder, possibly remember, before comitting to the obvious course of action his first officer always came back to.

"Work on this, people. Lieutenant Solius, once the modifications to a torpedo are done, inform Lieutenant Aron'son that firing is ready. Lieutenant Irksos, calibrate your instruments for maximum data collection from this attempt. And if there is something or someone down there, they might react to us if we knock that hard on their door."

"Aye, Sir. Already telling Warrant Officer Stark to pull a quantum torpedo from storage and begin modifications."

He relayed his commands to his staff, making sure that Baoule would be present for the modification. The torpedo was inactive while it was being serviced, but he wanted to make sure that there were no...complications while they had a war head out of it's high security storage. It would be a few minutes for his officers to move the device and ready it for action.

Aron'Son nodded in acknowledgement "I will have one of my tactical officers meet them in case there are any... complications. They are capable of disarming the warhead completely."

"Good idea..." the engineer mumbled. His orders had been given and now it was just a waiting game.

"Number One, supervise this operation please," Kheren finished.

(Any other conversation)

After a few minutes, S'Tan's comm bleeped and Lt Baoule's voice came through. "All set Sir. The torpedo is loading into the bay now. We're returning to engineering."

S'Tan acknowledged their report and looked to tactical to confirm the receipt of the weapon. "Aron'Son, we are ready to lock and load."

The large Jem'Hadar nodded "Targeting the point of lost contact, proximity detonation set....on your order Captain."

"Lieutenant Irksos?"

"Probe is in the same tube as the modified torpedo, Captain. It will move at a safe distance from it in a dual spread pattern keeping a lock on it the whole time."

Kheren nodded and brought his four oculars back to the main viewer.

"Mister Aron'Son... fire away."

Two points of light rushed from under the image and separated from one another; one moved away in a graceful arc while the other went straight towards the planet where the last probe had disappeared. 

"On course, reaching coordinates for detonation in three... two... one..."

A brief flash of light brightened the strangely out of focus image of the planet in a peculiar tear-dropped shape towards it... then it was gone almost as fast as it had exploded.

"Is it supposed to do that?" wondered Elliago as silence took tje bridge while everyone waited for the science officer to report. 

"Lieutenant?" 

"Captain... according to the probe's data, all the energy of the torpedo was... dissipated... into nothingness."

Kheren's antennae waved in confusion.

"That is not very scientific, Lieutenant."

"Agreed, Sir; nothing is created, nothing is destroyed is an elementary concept of science, at least regarding energy and matter within any universe we can exist in. Fact is, the residue of the casing itself of the torpedo is still there, spreading with the planet's gravity well... but all the photons have literally vanished. There's not even one to be found anywhere, not even in any subspace domain or any of the basic eleven dimensions harnessed by a quantum detonation."

"Theory?"

It took another moment for the astrophysicist to respond.

"Only one that I can relate to this, Captain; it dates back from the first attempt to cross the Great Galactic Barrier by the USS Enterprise during the mid-twenty-third century. As implausible and illogical as it may sound, Sir, this... field surrounding the planet behaves like an area of... negative energy."

"Could it be a planetary defense shield?" Aron'Son questioned.

"A distinct possibility... if this is not a natural phenomenon, like the Great Barrier it seems to emulate... although in the case of the galactic border, the sheer size and location of it preclude the probability of it being artificial. Here it is somewhat the opposite; what we know of natural planetary formation is inconsistent with the presence of such a field... above and beyond the fact that such a field makes no sense to begin with."

"Yet, it flies..." 

Noticing everyone looking at him, Aguk Snow realized he had thought outloud and so explained himself.

"I was remembering ancient aviation history on Earth; when the inventor of the helicopter presented his concept, it was refuted as impossible, even if it was presented as the very same flying principles as those a beetle use to fly."

"So it is there," Kheren agreed. "What can we do about it?"

"If it is protecting something by negating any and all forms of energy, any transmission will no more get through than our torpedo explosion did," Lyrya postulated with an apologetic nod towards Redding sitting on the other side of the command chair occupied by their commanding officer.

"So, energy is absorbed or nullified or whatever..." Elliago asked in turn. "What about matter? What happened to the probe we first sent into it?"

"Highest probability is that it lost all power almost instantly and it's initial momentum sent it intact but inert towards the planet where it eventually burned up in the atmosphere," Irksos proposed as an answer. "We can distinguish the planet and it's layers through that no-energy zone so it is safe to assume that matter is unaffected... and that this field surrounds but does not touch the planet itself, else it could not be the way it is."

"Come to think of it, how can it be the way it is if that field absorbs all energy? You can't have a class M planet like that without energy from the star, "Kheren wondered.

"Unless that field is selective... which does suggest the possibility of an intelligence behind it," Elliago pointed out, ... maybe literally."

"And if so, one which we can not contact since no signal can go through it," Lyrya finished.

Kheren kept silent, waiting for his officers to propose what was coming to his Starfleet mindset... or speak against it.

"Then we go through," the tactical officer stated simply.

"You're joking," Elliago exclaimed.

One look at the Jem'Hadar's unblinking stare sent the Deltan's own eyes skyward.

"Of course you're not..."

The engineer had kept silent while the other members of the bridge discussed the issue at hand. He only had limited knowledge of the Federation exploration of the Great Barrier. The Romulans, on the other hand, had declared the area a no-fly and had spent minimal resources trying to determine how to breach it. As far as he was aware, Kirk's Enterprise once had a run in with a cult who wanted to take a ship past the barrier. So of course, they hijacked the most advanced ship in the Federation navy. Kirk eventually saved his ship from destruction, but Starfleet never got the data from what would have happened if the ship crossed over the negative energy.

"I don't think going through it is a logical move," The engineer started, "We have to assume that this field will react to a ship as much as it reacted to the probes and torpedo. Earlier, I did suggest that the cultists take a tour of their new home. Maybe now is the time. I believe that the Earth Russians sent monkeys into space to test their original rockets, no? Maybe we should use some monk...people...of our own. We all know that they would say yes immediately. Let them bear some of this burden too."

"You're joking!"

Again, one look was enough for the bald doctor and to close his eyes in disbelief.

"Of course you're not..."

Then he looked straight at Kheren.

"May I remind the Captain Sir that animal experimentation has been outlawed in the Federation since it's foundation... Human testing long before that.. and that shouldering the burden is in our job description. And all that, Captain Sir, is in the eventuality of this being a natural phenomenon. On the other hand, if this is not a natural phenomenon but the product of some intelligence, violating the established boundaries of another culture..."

"I get the point, Doc, thank you," the Andorian cut him before he could start reciting what everyone knew. "This mystery will have to wait after we secure our charges. Mister Snow; head for the third planet."

"Course plotted and laid in, Sir."

Kheren only made a hand gesture and the image of the planet that filled the whole viewer started to move aside to reveal again the unknown universe surrounding them, the star of the system shining at their back around the shadow of one of the planet's moons. Barely a few seconds into breaking out of lunar orbit, Lyrya turned her empty stare to him.

"Sir, Governor Sufra demands to speak to you."

"Yes, Governor Sufra."

"Captain Kheren! Why are you moving away? You do not have the authority to abort the mission!"

"I am not, Governor Sufra. This planet represents a definite hazard and a possible Prime Directive problem. Under all my standing orders, I am now investigating the second possible colonization site. If this second one proves adequate, we will start you on your preliminary survey and preparations while we ourselves will return to ascertain if the situation here, be it one or the other, is not potentially problematic in the short or long run."

"Your orders are to deliver us here, Captain. The rest is under my responsibility."

"As long as you are aboard my ship, you are my responsibility; thus, my judgment prevails. Kheren out."

They could only hear the woman's outraged breath intake before the counselor closed the channel after her captain made a cutting gesture accross his own throat. Then she cut off the insistent buzzing that followed for more than a minute on her intraship comm panel.

"She will not let you off that easily you know," Elliago whispered near the Andorian's antennae.

"It takes almost two minutes at a run to get from the main observation deck to the bridge, Doc."

"Not much time to compose your last will and testament," smirked the Deltan.

"I could erect a level ten force field around the bridge," Aron'Son said and everyone on the bridge knew he was serious and not attempting to contribute to the doctor's joke.

The engineer pressed  a few quick commands on his console, "I apologize sir, but the primary turbolift is down for a quick diagnostic scan. I noticed a strange power fluctuation a few minutes ago, so I deemed it high priority. It will be back up in five minutes. I suppose the governor will have to wait a bit..."

He had a devilish grin, he felt like he was back on a Warbird.

Kheren's face remained impassive as usual and his eyes never wavered from the screen; but his antennae curved sharply inward and his voice had a very uncharacteristic light tone to it.

"Officer's thinking, Lieutenant."

He knew that, in five minutes or so, there would be "Hell to pay" as the old Earth saying went; but Kheren was confident he would manage somehow to swim back from those frigid dark waters. What was important was that the mission, his orders and his conscience would all be satisfied if at all possible. If not... well, he knew exactly where his priorities, his powers and his responsibilities were. And it seemed that his crew fairly knew that just as well and would not let him step the wrong way.

That is Starfleet for you, he thought with satisfaction.