Mysteries on Mysteries Part I
Posted on Wed Nov 19th, 2025 @ 10:42pm by Captain Thorrin & Lieutenant Commander Tarian Aloria & Lieutenant Sivek
Edited on on Mon Nov 24th, 2025 @ 10:02pm
1,773 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
In The Nick Of Time
Location: Astrometrics - Deck 5 - USS Herodotus
Timeline: MD004 1930 hrs
Tarian was down there in Astrometrics, looking over the signal that had brought them to this planet. This was their first big mission and Tarian wanted to make sure that they got it absolutely right, especially since he was the Chief Temporal Ops Officer.
He was sitting at one of of the side consoles and looked over something that caught his attention. It was something that he knew a bit about, but also...not? It was more of an engineering question. So, he thought it would be a good question for the Chief Engineer.
Tarian tapped his combadge and said, "Aloria to Thorrin and Sivek. I think I've got something down here in Astrometrics. But, I need some help that I think one or both of you could help out with. Mind joining me down here and helping me out for a moment?"
Sivek was crouched beneath a diagnostic panel when the voice came through the comm. The sound of the man's voice--brisk and earnest--threw an echo in the little metal chamber that reminded him exactly how far he had drifted from the silence of logic and isolation. He paused a moment and passed a phase realignment patcher back to the young woman near his feet.
"Understood," he said simply. His eyes lingered for a few extra moments on the console--equations of energy redistribution curves forming. He had been recalibrating the tertiary plasma manifolds to reduce waste heat by one-pointy-four percent. Admittedly, it was a small gain, but precision mattered to Sivek. It always mattered.
The young engineer beside him--a human woman of about thirty years--looked up from her tricorder. "Do you need me to finish the adjustments?"
He stood slowly, gently rubbing the creases from his uniform, considering her question. "Yes. Continue with the phase-shift parameters at point eight. Ensure the feedback loop remains isolated. I will be in Astrometrics."
She nodded, though her brow creased in slight confusion at his economy of instruction.
His mind wandered as he walked to the turbolift: temporal anomalies, astrometric signals, a DTI vessel becoming more and more energy efficient with each passing shift in engineering.
The doors parted, and he stepped into the soft light of Astrometics. Displays shimmered along the walls, threads of data and stellar maps creating a colourful light show.
"Lieutenant Commander Aloria," he said by way of greeting. "How may I be of assistance?"
Tarian looked over his shoulder at the Vulcan Chief Engineer and said, "Ah, yes! I'm so glad that you could come! I've got a bit of a mystery that I'm hoping you and the Captain can help me figure out. Once he gets here, I'll fill you both in. So, I don't have to repeat too much information."
Thorrin stepped into Astrometrics after relieving the guards of their duty. He disagreed with his Chief of Security when it came to Sivek. But felt having the guards was a good compromise of sorts. "Commander, Lieutenant a fine day for a mystery is it not."
"Yeah, especially for the signal that brought us here. I've still being analyzing it and found something that I think both of you could help out with. Take a look at this," Tarian replied, as he walked to the main controls in Astrometrics. He brought up the signal and information about what brought the Herodotus to the system in the first place. But, it was overlaid with some new information from both the ground crews and stuff the teams onboard have been collecting.
Sivek moved closer to the central display. The blue and amber light of the projection washed over his face, softening his usually sharp Vulcan features. The signal pulsed in measured intervals--too deliberate to be random, too irregular to be wholly artificial.
He folded his hands behind his back. "Fascinating," he murmured. "Is it harmonic?"
"That's what I was thinking. But, when, I ran it against the computer to get a match, it gave me this..." Tarian said as he pulled up the tests that he had run. It showed that it was similar to the harmonic resonance similar to that of a Romulan warp core. Since they were artificially created, it could be that someone was using a similar technique to create some kind of temporal disruptions. But, that's why he needed the Captain and Sivek's help.
Pointing to the main screen in Astrometrics, Tarian said, "It has way too many hallmarks of Romulan warp technology. But, it's doing all sorts of temporal stuff that I can't even begin to explain yet. I was thinking it might be something related to the artificial core technology that they use, but you're more of an engineering expert than I am, Mr. Sivek."
Sivek studied the data in silence for several long seconds, seeing the rhythmic pulse of the signal. His mind began to assemble what it saw--frequencies, decay patterns, phase variance--like some invisible lattice forming in space.
"Romulan warp signatures are... distinctive," he said, glancing from Thorrin to Tarian. "They favour harmonic containment rather than phase-dampening, a choice that is both elegant and perilous. It allows for greater efficiency in their artificial singularity reactors, but it also introduces an unstable subharmonic drift--one easily magnified by temporal interference."
He stepped closer to the display, his right hand coming to rest against the console's edge. "This--" he made a gesture to the floating lines in the waveform "--is not warp resonance. Not quite. Though, it mimics one. A synthetic echo, as though someone were attempting to reproduce the resonance without the reactor itself. Perhaps... as a lure."
Picking up a PADD that was laying nearby, Tarian pulled up some information onto the big screen. It was a report from the Enterprise-D back in the 2360's. It was when Captain Picard, Counselor Troi, Commander Data, and Commander La Forge were coming back from a conference aboard a Runabout, but found a Romulan Warbird and the Enterprise stuck in some sort of temporal anomaly. It was due to an alien presence, but it had to do something with their warp core of the Romulan engines.
Looking to Thorrin and Sivek, Tarian said, "Well, this incident with the Enterprise-D was what made me think it might've had to do something with their engines and time. Since the aliens were living in the Romulan's warp core, they were able to do something with space time. So, I was wondering what your thoughts were on that and if that could be related in any way to what's going on now? Maybe the Romulans figured out a way to harness their warp engines to manipulate time? Change how it works somehow?"
Thorrin did find some of this fascinating. But it was not the same information that the others were interested in that appealed to Thorrin. At the moment he rather enjoyed the idea that the Romulans were involved. Of course they were not. "Do not look for enemies where there are none. That is the first rule if you intend to survive aboard this ship. The Romulans have nothing to do with this. I know because there is no answer to the most important question to time manipulation. That is the question of why. Supposing that the Romulans had the technology as you suggest. The next question is why would they want to manipulate the development of a race that has no influence anywhere in the known galaxy. No, my friends this comes from within. This distress signal was generated in the past. We know this without question. So, the questions we need to answer are who sent it, why was it sent, and how did it survive for over a century."
Sivek's eyes stayed fixed on the waveform, the bluish light making smooth and undulating movements. He didn't look at either man when he spoke.
"Captain Thorrin's reasoning is sound," he said, breaking the interlude. "Caution is required before we assign blame--or intent."
He tapped a finger against one of the data nodes. "This frequency bears resemblance to Romulan warp harmonics, yes, but resemblance does not imply origin. It could be imitation. Or coincidence. Space is rarely short on echoes." He paused, his gaze drifting over the data, searching for a secondary pattern.
"Temporal resonance, however--" he hesitated for a half-second, "--is something I have studied. The physics are delicate. Small perturbations can mimic larger distortions, particularly near decaying subspace folds. What we may be seeing is not a transmission across time, but a reflection--an imprint left by something that once existed here, still reverberating in the local field."
Sivek straightened, folding his hands behind his back. "If that is true, the signal is neither Romulan nor contemporary. It is a ghost. A harmonic remnant that outlived its source."
Tarian quieted down and tilted his head down a bit before replying, "Sorry, sir. Like Sivek said, it wasn't Romulan or anything contemporary. That's why I needed some help. I need help figuring out the how part of how we got the message or how it was sent. If you two are up for the task."
The Vulcan hybrid regarded Tarian quietly. The colours of the Astrometrics display shifted again--pale greens now slid into a deep cobalt.
"Commander," he said, "I would be... very interested in assisting you further."
Sivek clasped his hands behind his back again, his gaze still fixed on the rise and fall of the signal. "Since my arrival, I have been occupied primarily with recalibrating the plasma flow regulators and correcting minor inefficiencies in the warp field geometry. It has been--" he paused as if searching for the least indulgent word "--productive, but solitary. An opportunity to engage with something beyond maintenance would be welcome."
He turned toward the main console, his tone even and contemplative. "If this is, as you suggest, a resonance of temporal nature, then our first step should be to reinitialize the ship's chroniton variance sensors and cross-reference them with the temporal gravimetric array in the Science Lab. Those subsystems operate in parallel but rarely in unison. A shared diagnostic could reveal interference patterns too subtle for standard analysis."
A Joint Post By
Captain Thorrin
Commanding Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Lieutenant Sivek
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Lieutenant Commander Tarian Aloria
Chief Temporal Operations Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
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